Bounty Hunters
by MyFirstWritingCareer
Summary: Two years after quitting the Freedom Fighters, Tails has entered into the career of bounty hunting. But what will he do when he finds out someone has put a price on the head of his old best friend?
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello! Okay, here's my new story! Anyway, this story has been bugging me for a while. I feel like this isn't the best story I've written, but I've been wanting to post it for a while, so I'm going to anyway. If you like it, hooray! If you don't, oh well, I don't care, you don't have to read it. So, I hope you enjoy my story. Here it is!  
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><p>Miles "Tails" Prower ran quickly, dodging people as he made his way down the busy sidewalk of New Mobotropolis's Main Street. He thought of how easy crowd dodging would have been for him seven or eight years previously, before he had hit his pubescent growth spurt and was a lot smaller than the people on the street. He thought about flying over the crowd, also, but then he remembered he was trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible, if such a thing was possible for a two-tailed fox.<p>

Tails heard the wireless headset in his ear start to ring. He ducked out of the crowd and into a nearby alleyway, tapping the button on the headset to answer the incoming call.

"Hello?" he answered into the microphone that reached down from his ear to his muzzle.

"Yo, Mi', I got 'im on the run," his friend sounded like he was running and was slightly out of breath. "I headed him up a fire escape. Now he's building-jumping. I'm trying to keep up, but he's a freaking lynx. He's a good jumper. Can you head him off?"

"I'll try," replied Tails. "Where is he? Is he still on Main?"

"Yeah, on your side, too," said the voice in his ear. "He's a couple buildings down from me. Around your area, I think. I know he's on the roof of that big, brick building." Tails' eyes darted to the wall in front of him, seeing the red bricks. His gaze made its way up the building, spotting the edge of the roof four stories higher. Now it was time to fly.

"I got him," said Tails shortly, bending down into a crouch. Then he sprang back up, launching into the air, whirling his twin-tails behind him. The fluffy appendages propelled him up the building in no time. He was ascending up to the rooftop just in time to catch the lynx he was looking for as he made a jump from the roof of the brick building. Tails caught him by surprise and aimed an uppercut to the feline's stomach. The force of the punch threw the lynx backwards onto the rooftop.

"OOF!" The lynx landed on the rooftop with a loud THUD as Tails landed on the edge in front of him.

"Wow, Lightning, I thought you would be able to get away quicker," remarked Tails.

"C'mon, just let me go," pleaded the lynx in a strained voice as he tried to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him upon his sharp impact with the ground under him. "Please, just leave me out of your little crusade against all criminals, for now. I'm in danger-"

"I know," interrupted Tails plainly. "You should learn not to steal money from psychotic, rich people."

"Please, he's after me," Lightning repeated the plea in hopes of appealing to the fox's merciful side. "Maybe you could help me, even. He's got my team and he's gonna kill them. I need to rescue them, please-"

"Why would I help you?" Tails cut him off again, crossing his arms across his chest and giving the lynx a cold look.

"Because you're the hero kid," said Lightning somewhat desperately. "You help people who need it. Look, me and my friends may not be very close to innocent, but do we really deserve to die?"

"You knew what you were getting into by stealing that money," said Tails with a cold tone to match his look. "And if you didn't, it's your fault for not doing enough research."

"So, that's it?" asked Lightning, getting to his feet and cocking an eyebrow at the fox. "You're just gonna send me to prison where that guy's prison minions can finish me off? You can just send me to my death like that?" Tails' expression didn't waver one bit as he looked the lynx in the eye and nodded coldly. "Oh, c'mon, please. Just think, what would Sonic do?" The cold look on Tails' face was emphasized by a sharp, icy glint that appeared in his sapphire eyes at the mention of the heroic hedgehog's name. Then the fox cracked a small smile, though, to the lynx, it only made Tails look more malicious.

"Sonic and I haven't spoken for over two years," stated Tails, his manic smile fading gradually as he finished the sentence. "Me and him aren't very good friends anymore, so, if you're going to argue your case to me, bringing him into the argument will only succeed at _pissing me off_."

"Oh, good, you caught him," Lightning and Tails both looked to the door to the stairwell in the middle of the rooftop, seeing a red-orange-furred fox walking towards the pair, holding a pair of zip-ties in his hand. "Okay, c'mere, you stupid lynx."

"Fine," said an angry lynx, thrusting his hands out in front of Tails. "When I'm killed in prison, my blood will be on your hands, fox-freak." Tails smiled evilly at the lynx again.

"Who said anything about prison?" asked Tails with a malicious tone as the darker fox intertwined the zip-ties and put them around the lynx's outstretched wrists. Lightning cocked another eyebrow at Tails in confusion.

"Then what are you gonna do with me?" he asked nervously.

"Well, I'm not sure if you know, but the man you stole from put a price on your head," said Tails plainly. Lightning's face fell at the sound of this. "Me and my friend, here, are here to collect. He's offering fifteen thousand for you."

"You guys are bounty hunters?" asked Lightning with a quick double take between the fox that was restraining him and the fox that was standing in front of him.

"Yep," replied Tails' friend shortly.

"Well, then how about I offer you the money me and the rest of the Foursome got from the theft," suggested Lightning. "I swear; no one has to know. We got thirty thousand. I'll pay you twenty if you let me go and I'll pay you all of it if you help me save my team." Tails laughed aloud at the offer.

"Don't try to lie to me, Lightning," said Tails, still chuckling slightly. "I know you guys only got ten grand."

"Oh, well, who needs fifteen grand?" asked Lightning desperately. "Ten thousand seems like it's enough."

"Yeah, but we can't have a reputation for letting targets pay us off," replied Tails. He turned his attention to the second fox. "Can you take him for the delivery, Brad?"

"Sure, no prob, Mi'," replied the fox, taking Lightning by his shoulder and leading the lynx to the stairwell.

"Well, forget sending me to prison to die!" exclaimed Lightning loudly. "You're sending me right to the chopping block!"

"Hey, now is a good time to shut up," warned Brad, pulling a gun out of the back of his jeans and jamming it into the lynx's ribs. Tails watched as Brad and Lightning disappeared into the stairwell, shutting the door behind them. Then Tails leaned back on his heels and jumped backwards off the edge of the building.

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><p>Tails leaned back in the recliner chair in his living room. He pulled the lever on the side of the chair and the footrest popped up from under the chair. He took the bottle of beer he had gotten out of the fridge and popped the cap off as he turned on the large plasma screen on the wall opposite him. He was about to take a sip of the drink in his hand when he was interrupted by the front door of his apartment opening down the hallway in the wall to his right.<p>

"Well, Lightning Lynx is now in someone else's hands," announced Brad as he entered the living room holding a beer in his hands. He sat down on the sofa next to Tails' recliner and laid back against the armrest, popping the cap off of his bottle and taking a sip. "And we are fifteen grand richer, Mi'."

"Nice," said Tails, taking a sip of his beer. "Hey, do you think Lightning was telling the truth about the rich guy killing them?"

"Who knows," said Brad with a shrug. "But, y'know, it was their fault for stealing from him in the first place. We just did a job, it's not like we were the ones who actually killed them."

"Yeah, but I still feel kinda guilty," replied Tails quietly. "They were thieves and thugs, but they didn't deserve to die."

"Yeah, I guess, but who's to say that he actually killed them?" said Brad, taking another sip. "Look, let's just enjoy the fact that we just made a lot of money and toast to a job well done." He raised his bottle above his head and put it in front of Tails, who smiled and tapped his own bottle against Brad's.

"Okay, fine," said Tails as he took a sip of his beer. "Now, maybe we can get you outta my place."

"Sounds like a plan," said Brad. "We may have enough money now."

"We definitely have enough money," said Tails.

"Well, we can go apartment hunting tomorrow," said Brad. Tails was about to reply when a news bulletin came on the TV, stealing the attention of both foxes.

"And to start today's news," began the brown-furred mouse anchorwoman on the screen. "The hero of Mobius has made a royal proposal. Today, Sonic the Hedgehog has asked for Princess Sally's hand in marriage. He asked her at-"

"UGH!" exclaimed Brad in clear annoyance with the news flash. "Okay, what was he on the news last week for? I think it was some kind of commemoration or something."

"Hey, he's not that bad a guy," said Tails, taking another swig of beer.

"Well, I'm just saying, my first impression of him wasn't all that great, remember?" replied Brad.

"Well, that's because I was angry when I told you about that fight we had," said Tails. "And it's not like I was completely innocent. I also said some pretty nasty stuff to him _and_ I started the fight in the first place."

"Yeah, but it's one thing to get pissed at a guy and rip on his girlfriend," said Brad. "It's another to ridicule someone for something that they're born with."

"Well, I wouldn't say 'ridicule'," replied Tails somewhat awkwardly, looking down at his chest.

"I believe the words you told me about were 'Shut up, you two-tailed, mutant freak of nature'," retorted Brad coolly. "Sounds like ridicule to me."

"I also said some things about Sally first that I don't even wanna repeat," said Tails. "I sorta deserved what I got." Brad opened his mouth to argue back when he was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing. The two foxes watched the dark hallway in the right wall as they heard footsteps coming toward them. A few seconds later, an orange-furred vixen, stepped into the room. She was wearing a pair of navy blue skinny jeans, a pair of sneakers, and a small, black, zip-up jacket over a tight, white T-shirt. Her short-cut, auburn hair dangled slightly in front of her face as she eyed the pair of foxes, smiling and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey, Cassie," greeted Tails with a smile. "Go get yourself a beer and you can enjoy the celebration of a job well done with us. A job which couldn't have been done without you."

"And a job which I've come to collect for," replied Cassie shortly. "I believe three grand would be a good price."

"Three grand!" exclaimed Brad, almost spitting up the beer in his mouth. "What?"

"That's a totally fair price," argued Cassie. "I told you exactly where Lightning was hiding, right down to his hotel room number. You _never_ would have found him without me."

"Three grand's fair, Brad, let it go," said Tails with a dismissive wave.

"Thank you, Miles," said Cassie, taking a seat on the couch next to Brad's feet. "So, what were you guys doing before I came in?"

"Hedgehog bashing," said Brad, laying his head down on the armrest.

"_He_ was hedgehog bashing," said Tails quickly. "I was trying to navigate away from the subject."

"Okay, so, if the fight wasn't as big as I thought it was," said Brad, picking up the argument again. "Why didn't you ever go and patch things up with Sonic?"

"I-" Tails stopped abruptly. He had no idea why he never went back to clear the air. He knew he had thought about it, but he never really had gotten around to doing it. "I don't know. I really don't know why I never went to fix things." He looked up at Cassie and Brad. "Maybe that's what I should do. It's been two years; he's getting married, why not?"

"Good idea," agreed Cassie happily. "But maybe you can let it wait until tomorrow morning. Tonight, I have a job for you guys that has to be jumped on _now_. It's a biggie, guys."

"How big?" asked Brad, his ears perking up interestedly as he sat up on the couch.

"Fifty-grand big," said Cassie with a clever smile. "Guy named Jack Lane has a fifty grand price on his head and I know exactly where he is."

"Where is he?" asked Tails quickly.

"Crown Hotel, downtown," said Cassie. "Room number 1023."

"Who's looking for him?" asked Brad as he stood up from the couch and stretched his arms out.

"Mammoth Mogul," said Cassie shortly.

"Why is Mammoth Mogul shelling out fifty large for someone?" asked Tails as he stood up.

"How should I know?" asked Cassie. "All I know is there's a guy hiding in the Crown Hotel who you guys could very easily catch and make fifty grand off of. Do we need to know more?"

"No we do not," answered Brad as he made for the door, followed by the other two. "Thank you, Cass."

"Thank me by paying me!" replied Cassie shortly.

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><p>Tails waited patiently in the lobby of the Crown Hotel, lurking in a deserted corner to keep out of other people's attention and pretending to talk on his phone to keep people from wondering why a strange fox was hiding away in a corner of the lobby in the first place. He leaned against the wall and pretended to listen to the phone as he looked at his reflection in the golden, reflective wall in front of him. He wondered what Sonic would think when he saw him when he went to reconcile with him tomorrow afternoon. He had changed a lot in the two years since he'd last seen his childhood hero and best friend.<p>

Since he had left Sonic, he had started wearing normal clothes, like the light blue jeans, the white T-shirt, and the black hoody he was wearing now. He had also received a couple marks from the bounty hunting lifestyle he'd adopted. There was a small scar running from his cheek to his chin from a knife-wielding bail jumper who he'd encountered on one of the first bounty hunts he'd gone on. There was also a small, but noticeable, nick in his left ear from an armed fugitive he'd chased down a couple months previously. On top of all that, Tails could also see a small, light brown goatee starting to form on his chin. He wondered if, had the twin tails not been there to give him away, Sonic would even recognize him.

"Hey, Mi'," Tails turned to see Brad coming towards him from the elevator on the opposite side of the room. He pointed to the door and started toward it. Tails pretended to hang up his phone and followed after his friend, walking through the rotating door that was the front entrance of the hotel. He followed Brad to the alley beside the hotel. Brad stopped at the entrance of the alley and turned to Tails, leaning against the alley's wall coolly.

"So, what are we up against?" asked Tails curiously.

"Two big dudes at the door," answered Brad shortly. "That's it. He's not being very conspicuous about where he's hiding."

"Yeah," agreed Tails thoughtfully. "How easily do you think we could take them down?"

"Pretty easily," said Brad. "Maybe not totally easily, but it won't be a problem."

"They armed?" asked Tails curiously.

"Not that I could see," answered Brad with a shrug. "So, let's just take them down before they can pull their guns."

"But Jack probably is," said Tails.

"That's why we have these," said Brad in a cocky tone as he pulled a black pistol out of the back of his pants. "Two guns are better than one."

"But that doesn't mean he won't shoot," said Tails. "He knows he's being hunted which means he knows that Mogul wants him alive-"

"And we both know that if Mogul wants him dead, he'd ask bounty hunters to do it," argued Brad impatiently.

"We can't be sure of that," argued Tails quickly. "There are several reasons why Mogul would want him alive and still kill him when he got him. I'm just saying that it's not a good idea to go in, guns blazing, on a man who thinks he's already dead. That little factoid makes him more trigger happy than normal."

"Okay, what do you suggest we do, then?" asked Brad, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"Did the two big guys see you?" asked Tails.

"Yeah, I needed a close look at them, so I had Cass talk me down the hallway on the phone," said Brad. "Walked right past them. They're not suspicious of me, but they did see me."

"Okay, let me think," said Tails quietly.

"Hey, why is it that whenever I ask Cassie to help me with a phone distraction that she always picks conversational topics that are so _boring_?" asked Brad, ignoring his friend's subtle request for silence. "I mean, she knows I don't care about shoes and clothes and stuff like that, so why does she always make me talk about it with her?"

"To bug you," said Tails simply with a chuckle. "Alright, we need to find a bellhop."

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><p>Fifteen minutes later, Tails was walking down the hotel's tenth floor hallway in a stolen bellhop's uniform, pushing a room service cart in front of him. He saw the two, big guards that Brad had talked about as he turned down the hallway where Jack was staying.<p>

Tails came up to the two guards, who watched him like a pair of hungry hawks. The fox did his best to twist his two tails together to make them look like one, singular appendage, but he didn't know how successful he was. He guessed he was convincingly successful, since the two guards didn't stop him. At least, not in the way he thought they would.

"Hold it," said the one on the left in a deep voice, holding his shovel-sized hand up in front of Tails. "We didn't receive word about the boss ordering any food."

"W- well, all I know is that I got a card from the manager telling me the order and the room number, s- sir," said Tails with a slight stammer to sell the intimidated-bellhop cover.

"Okay, hold on," said the man on the left in a voice that sounded exactly like his partners. Tails wondered if they were all trained somewhere to speak that deeply. The man knocked on the door that they were guarding and waited. Shortly afterward, it opened to reveal a short, tan-skinned man with a 5-o'-clock shadow and black, slicked-back hair, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.

"What is i-" he stopped short as he saw Tails standing with the room service cart. Tails was trying his best to look scared. Now he just had to construct a fake argument that would give Brad enough time to slip out from under the blanket that covered the bottom shelf of the cart and into the room unnoticed.

"This guy's here with your food," said the bodyguard on the right.

"My food?" he said absentmindedly as he looked Tails over. Then he smiled somewhat nastily and crossed his arms. "Oh, right, my _food_." Immediately, several alarm bells went off in Tails' head. He knew very well that this man hadn't ordered food. He and Brad had been made. Now they would just have to think on their feet. "Well, alright. Took you long enough. Now come on in and serve it to me."

"Oh, I don't think I should," replied Tails somewhat nervously, this time for real. "I have a whole bunch more orders to deliver. Best not to keep them waiting."

"Nonsense, I paid for room _service_, not just food," said the man with a somewhat evil smile. Then the smile immediately turned into a frown. "Now come in and _serve_ me my food." Tails knew there was no getting away. It was either take the man and the two guards out here in a getaway attempt or take the man in the room and keep the prize.

"Y- yes, s- sir," said Tails quietly, pushing the cart into the room after the man went back in. He closed the door behind him and found a dark hotel room inside. Half the lights were off, there were clothes strewn about the floor, and take-out containers piled on the counter in the room's small kitchen.

"Sorry about the mess," he said quietly. He led Tails into the main area silently before turning back towards the door. "I'll just be a minute. I was going to draw a bath when you came in." He took a left into the bathroom. Tails heard the sound of loud, running water right after he heard the soft sound of a fluttering blanket by his feet. He looked to his left and saw Brad with a gun held at the ready by his ear. The fox gave Tails a warning look, putting a finger to his mouth as he disappeared into one of the shadowy corners of the room.

Tails turned his attention back to the bathroom as the man came out dressed in only a white bathrobe, now. He was smiling pleasantly at the fox, though the smile seemed somewhat unnerving to Tails. He had his hands stuffed into the pockets of the robe, pockets more than big enough to hold a small firearm, Tails noticed. He rocked back and forth on his feet slightly as he watched Tails for a moment, as if thinking of what his next move should be.

"So, mister...?" Tails gave the man a questioning look, even though he already knew the man's name.

"Jack," replied Jack casually. "Jack Lane." He smiled more widely now, revealing a row of dull, white teeth. "Now, don't you have a job to do?"

"Right," said Tails quietly as he picked a random dish off of the cart. "Where would you like me to serve the food?"

"Right there on the table," Jack pointed to a small table by the couch in the corner of the room. Tails took the dish and set it down on the table, pulling the metal cover off of the dish and turning around to find the barrel of a gun pointed barely a foot away from his nose.

"Um, s- s- sir?" Tails asked, feigning more of a stammer now, due in part to the fact that the gun actually made him quite apprehensive, though he just embellished on that feeling to try and maintain the bellhop cover.

"Shut up," ordered Jack sternly. "You can tell your friend to come out now." He pointed his available thumb over his shoulder at the dark corner that Brad was hiding in.

"Fine," said Tails with an annoyed sigh, dropping the act and putting his hands up. "Brad! You can come out now." Immediately, Brad emerged from the dim shadows of the room with his hands up, gun pointed towards the ceiling.

"Give," said Jack shortly, holding his available hand out to Brad. Brad deposited the gun in Jack's hand and walked over to Tails' side, crossing his arms and glaring at the human opposite him and his partner. Jack shot back the same glare and held the second gun on Brad. "Okay, now you guys are gonna tell me who you are and I won't blow your heads off. Maybe."

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><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: Alright, there it is! How'd you like it? I hoped you liked it. If you don't, then I may very well cry... Actually, no, I won't. So, if you're waiting for an update, then you won't have to wait very long. I've got the next few chapters already written and the next few chapters after that all outlined. Kinda. Anyway, hope you liked it. Favorite, alert, review, tell your friends, and always remember that every one out of ten career hermits you meet are allergic to gold fish. Seeya!<br>**


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is the next chapter! I was originally going to wait a couple days before posting it, but yesterday, after I posted the story, I made a deal with myself to post the next chapter today if I got at least five reviews yesterday. So, that's how many I got. Now I post. Anyway, not much else to say, so, read and enjoy!  
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><p>"Brilliant plan, Mi'," remarked Brad sarcastically. "Going great, so far."<p>

"Shut up," hissed Tails in annoyance.

"Who are you?" Jack repeated the question. "I'm assuming you're bounty hunters."

"Guilty as charged," replied Brad in an annoyed tone.

"My name's Miles and this is my friend, Brad," introduced Tails, still sounding rather annoyed.

"Well, you guys did a nice job of catching me," said Jack with an evil smile. "Now, any last words?"

"Wait, you're gonna kill us?" Tails shot Jack a questioning look. "Can't ya just knock us out, run, and go underground?"

"Well, I could, but there will be other bounty hunters looking for me," replied Jack shortly. "Your bodies are the messages that say 'stay away'."

"Fine," said Tails calmly. He stood up from the seat he was in and took a step towards Jack, putting the barrel of the gun in Jack's right hand right up against his own forehead. Tails used this as a distraction and took the opportunity to fold his hands behind his back and sneak a grasp on the gun tucked in the back-waist of his pants

Jack's eyes widened in slight surprise at the fox's action, but soon reverted back to his smug smile as Tails watched his finger wrap over the gun's trigger slowly. He knew that was his cue.

In one, swift movement, Tails slipped the gun out of the waist of his pants and tossed it behind him to Brad. Then he quickly ducked under the gun as Jack pulled the trigger. He felt the round whiz over his head; as he did the muzzle flare singe the fur on it. Then he reached above his head and grabbed Jack's hands, along with the guns in them, and brought them together over his head. The impact of the resulting collision caused Jack to withdraw his hands to his chest in recoil from the pain, causing him to drop the two guns, too. Tails grabbed them before they hit the floor and brought them back up with him as he stood up to his full height again. He trained the guns on the human who had backed into the wall behind him. He was about to draw one of the guns back to launch at Jack, but was interrupted by a loud crashing sound that came from the room's front door.

"Brad, take care of the guards," ordered Tails without turning to look at his partner. Then he resumed with his strike at the human in front of him, drawing the gun behind his head and letting it fly into the man's skull. Jack remembered feeling a sharp impact on his forehead before his vision blacked out and he sank into unconsciousness.

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><p>Jack woke up with a splitting headache. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself in the backseat of a car. He tried to maneuver himself into a more comfortable position sitting up, only to discover that his wrists were tied together with large zip-ties.<p>

"Hey, he's awake," Jack turned his head to the opposite side of the car to find a fox lounging comfortably in the car seat. He had a gun in his hand, which was laid across his lap, and he was smiling smugly at the restrained man. "Good thing, too. We thought we were gonna have to drag you up to Mogul's office."

"Oh, great," said a despaired Jack as the fight in his hotel room came back to his memory.

"Yep," said the fox shortly. "And don't try anything funny. I'll have a gun on you the whole time."

"Like you'd actually shoot me in the middle of a casino," retorted Jack with a groan.

"Try me," challenged the fox. "Hey, Mi', we almost there?" Jack looked up at the driver's seat and saw the second fox from the hotel room, now wearing, what Jack assumed was, his normal clothing, as Jack definitely doubted that the fox was actually a bellhop.

"Yeah, just a few more minutes," replied Tails, not taking his eyes off the road.

"So, you're taking me to Mogul," said Jack quietly, more to himself than anybody. "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?"

"I have an idea," replied Tails casually.

"So, do you actually think he's going to pay you?" asked Jack.

"Yeah, I do," answered Tails thoughtfully. "I'm an old friend of his."

"I don't think Mammoth Mogul has any kind of friends," remarked Jack plainly.

"Well, I'm using the term _very_ loosely," said Tails with a shrug. "Let's just say that I've been previously associated with him."

"So, what does he want you for, anyway?" asked Brad curiously.

"That's none of your business," replied Jack quietly.

"Okay, fine," said Brad with a shrug. The rest of the ride passed in silence. Jack watched as they pulled into the parking lot of a large, brightly lit casino.

* * *

><p>Mammoth Mogul had just gotten up from the large desk in his private office when his infernal desk phone rang, sitting him back down to answer the call that had interrupted his plans of retiring from work for the night. He picked up the phone and sighed frustratedly as he put it to his ear.<p>

"Hello?" he greeted the caller with an annoyed tone. He listened for a moment and his face changed from one of irritation to one of slight pleasure. "Well, what a pleasant piece of news." He listened for a few moments again. "Well, of course I'll spread the word, but only to the most privileged ears, right?" Listening. "Okay, good night." He put the phone back on its cradle and leaned back in his large, luxurious desk chair, smiling as he relished the pleasure that the news he had learned had brought to him. Then he was interrupted again by the sound of a knock at his door. He sighed as the smile disappeared from his face. Would this day never end for him?

"Come in, what do you want?" he said loudly to the door, trying to communicate to the knocker just how impatient and annoyed he was right now. He watched through narrow eyes as the door opened slowly and a young, familiar fox stepped in. He was smiling somewhat smugly at the mammoth as he walked in.

"Surprise, Mogul," he said, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jeans smugly and widening his smile.

"Yes, it is, young Miles," replied Mogul, leaning forward on his desk and smiling at the fox. "A pleasant surprise, at that. Well, someone's ears must have been burning, so, where is your nettlesome companion?"

"Sonic's not here," said Tails, his smile immediately turning into a frown. "What? Am I not enough for ya, Mogul?"

"Well, then the Freedom Fighters have seen fit to start sending you out on solo missions, then?" said Mogul.

"I'm twenty-one," said Tails defensively. "I'm more than old enough to take care of myself."

"Okay, so what is it that you all think I've done?" asked Mogul with a sigh. "Because I can honestly say that I didn't do it, and, this time, I can say it with actual integrity. I have been doing nothing but running my business."

"Get your facts straight, Mogul," said Tails. "I'm not with the Freedom Fighters anymore."

"Oh, really?" asked Mogul, eyebrows raised in slight surprise. "Well, then what business do you have with me if it's not on the behalf of the Kingdom's radical hero group?"

"I believe I found something you're looking for," said Tails, smiling smugly again as he turned the knob on the double doors behind him, swinging both wide to reveal another young, adult fox and a man who was handcuffed with zip-ties.

"Oh, this is a night for pleasant surprises," said Mogul, raising his eyebrows again, smiling this time. "I am impressed, Miles. You weren't even on the list of people I expected to bring him to me."

"Who was at the top?" asked Tails with a cocked eyebrow, still smiling smugly.

"No one you'd know," replied Mogul as Brad dropped the zip-tie-cuffed man in front of the mammoth's desk and joined Tails in front of the door.

"Try me," said Tails, crossing his arms across his chest. "I've gotten to know a few people in my two years of bounty hunting."

"You're a bounty hunter?" asked Mogul, cocking an eyebrow at the fox. "As in, a full-fledged bounty hunter?"

"Yep, two years," said Tails. "After I quit the Fighters, I ran into Brad, the aspiring bounty hunter." Tails nodded his head in Brad's direction. "I thought that I should go into business with him when he told me about bounty hunting. I thought it was a great idea, what with my experience in chasing baddies. Been doing it ever since. Speaking of, I believe you owe me fifty grand."

"Well, I'm happy to give it to you," said Mogul as he stood up from his chair. "But I can't help but wonder what two, young, adult foxes, such as yourselves, want fifty grand for." He turned his back on them and took a large painting off the wall behind the desk, revealing a small wall safe.

"To get Brad, here, out of my place," explained Tails while Mogul dialed the combination into the safe. "See, my friend and I, while being similar in many ways, don't have the same abilities to handle the cash in our wallets well. He's a bit of a gambler sometimes and he likes to go out of his way to impress girls. One night, he gets a little too drunk and, the next thing he knows, he's waking up in a stranger's car, bank account effectively drained, and nothing on him but a new fur-too and the shirt on his back." Mogul laughed amusedly at this story.

"Well, the money is yours," he said as he pulled a small, full sack from the safe and placed it on his desk. "But I do have one more question for you, if you don't mind." Tails shrugged indifferently in response. "Why did you end up quitting the Freedom Fighters?"

"Sonic and I had a bit of a falling out," replied Tails, narrowing his eyes in slight suspicion, wondering what the mammoth was getting at.

"Oh, really? What about?" asked Mogul, feigning sympathy.

"That's none of your business, Mogul," said Tails as he walked to the desk and took the bag in his hand.

"Well, I'm only asking because, right before you graced me with your presence, I received an interesting bit of news about your ex-hero," explained Mogul as Tails turned to walk away. "A bit of news that would particularly fascinate a bounty hunter, such as yourself." Tails' ears perked up in interest. He stopped in his tracks and turned back to the mammoth.

"What are you talking about?" asked Tails, layering his voice with suspicion now.

"Someone has put a very sizable bounty on Sonic's head," explained Mogul with a slight smile. "I have been told that one hundred thousand dollars will be rewarded to the person who brings your hedgehog in to whoever wants him. Someone wants him badly and they're willing to pay through the nose to get him."

"Who is it?" asked Tails sharply.

"Well, that would nullify the reasons I have for telling you about the bounty in the first place," replied Mogul. "Here's the way I see things, here. Two possibilities. One: I get to enjoy hearing about you taking your oldest friend to the Grim Reaper himself for a large sack of cash. Two: I get to enjoy hearing about how Mobius's dynamic duo went down trying to protect Sonic from the other big-shot bounty hunters out there or the very powerful people who are paying them."

"Well, then I'll just have to find them myself," said Tails as he turned back towards the door.

"Well, anyway you see it, you'll need a way of contacting them," said Mogul, stopping Tails in his tracks again. Tails turned back to him with a slightly annoyed expression.

"How do I contact them?" he asked in a demanding tone.

"I left their number in the bag with the cash," said Mogul as he walked towards the two foxes. "Now, if you'll please leave. I've had enough of business today. It is time for me to retire for the night." He waited for the two foxes to leave and he followed them shortly, leading his restrained prisoner with him as he followed the foxes down the hallway to the elevator. "Oh, and Miles?" Tails turned to look at the mammoth. "If you could do me a favor and not mention that I was the one who told you about Sonic, I would be very happy to make sure that this man knows nothing of you when I'm through with him, because I plan on him being alive and well afterwards." Tails nodded silently in agreement as he pushed the button on the elevator panel and the two metal doors slid open.

He watched as Mogul walked past the fox duo and down the only other hallway that branched from the elevator and towards the door at the end of it. Then he turned away and followed his friend into the elevator, pushing the button for the ground floor of the large casino. The whole ride down was in silence as Tails quietly pondered the very intriguing news he had just learned.

* * *

><p>Brad woke up feeling exhausted from the escapade of the night before. He and Tails had returned home around two in the morning, at which time Brad had seen fit to head straight for the couch, only stopping to undress himself, and crash down upon it, drifting to sleep upon impact.<p>

Brad drowsily made his way to the kitchen. As he walked through the door, he found Tails sitting at the small, round table in the middle of the room, eating from a bowl of cereal. He looked as tired as Brad did, if not more so. He was wearing only a white undershirt and his fur was matted and messy. He was staring down into his bowl, appearing to be deep in thought.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" asked Brad curiously.

"Huh?" Tails jerked out of his thoughts at the sound of Brad's voice, looking up at his roommate with a questioning look. "What?"

"Did you sleep last night?" Brad repeated the question as he walked past the fox at the table and headed toward the sink, pulling a bowl out on arrival and beginning cleaning it for use.

"Yeah, I got a couple hours," replied Tails, leaning forward and resting his head in his hands. "I was up until, like, four brainstorming and researching possible suspects. Then I finally-" He stopped for a moment to yawn tiredly. "-clocked out. Woke up at six." Brad looked at the clock. Six-thirty.

"You should really get some more sleep," said Brad as he dried the dish in his hands. "Who knows what we're gonna run into if we decide to try and find whoever put a price on Sonic's head." Tails was silent as Brad put the bowl on the table and filled it with cereal and milk. After he sat down at the table opposite Tails, he decided to break the silence. "Did you find anyone?"

"Well, let's see, Robotnik's dead, so I don't think it's him," replied Tails. "It could be Mogul, but I don't think it is-"

"Why not?" interrupted Brad.

"Because he told me about it," explained Tails. "I don't think Mogul would base his plans on the contingency that I actually go after Sonic. He knows that there's too much of a chance that I would tell him. There are so many better ways to go about getting Sonic than to tell me about a bounty on him and cross his fingers and hope that I do what he wants me to."

"Okay," agreed Brad with an approving nod.

"But I did find someone who looks good for it," continued Tails. Brad cocked an eyebrow at him as he took a bite of cereal. "Snively, Robotnik's nephew. When Sonic killed Robotnik, Snively disappeared. We know he didn't die when his uncle did, but he never showed his face again. This could be him finally deciding to make a move." Brad was silent as he thought over Tails' idea.

"Have Cass check it out," he finally said after a few minutes of eating and thinking.

"Good idea," said Tails. "Hey, this is a pretty big bounty. I don't know of many that could take on Sonic and win, but I know there are people who are gonna wanna try. I wanna play this on the safe side and not give them the chance to get lucky. Do you think you could keep an eye on his apartment, y'know, just watch for suspicious people?" Brad gave Tails a look that clearly told him how he felt about being put on watch-duty, especially for Sonic. "Oh, c'mon, it won't be that bad. Just sit outside in the car and watch for a while. I'll come and meet you there after I'm done with Cassie." Brad sighed lightly.

"Fine," he groaned in annoyance. "But you owe me. Big."

"Thanks," said Tails as he stood up from the table and exited the kitchen. "I'm gonna go get dressed and call Cass!"

* * *

><p>Tails touched down on a sidewalk in front of a small, one-story building in the downtown area of New Mobotropolis. He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that people started to stare at him as he landed. Whether it was because they had never seen a fox with two tails before or because they knew who he was, Tails didn't know.<p>

He looked up at the sign that stood at the edge of the building's roof above him. It said "THE KING'S DINER" in large, golden letters. Above the "K" in "KING'S", there was a golden crown that encircled the top of the "K"'s tip, made to look as if the letter was wearing the headdress.

Tails looked at the front door of the diner and started up the front walkway. He pushed the door open and entered the inside of an almost empty diner, the only visible person inside being a large, black-furred bear reading a newspaper in the farthest corner of the restaurant.

Tails walked to the front counter and took a seat in one of the barstools that were pushed under the countertop. He pressed the top of a small bell on the counter, sending the echo of a sharp, high-pitched DING through the diner.

"One minute!" called a familiar voice from the back room of the building. Out of the doorway behind the counter came Cassie dressed in a pair of loose, navy jeans, a tight, khaki green top, and a white apron tied around her waist. On the apron was pinned a golden-plated name-tag that read "CASSIE KING" in small, black letters. She spotted Tails sitting at the counter and walked over to him. "Hey, Miles, what'cha need?" Tails smiled slightly and took the rucksack he was carrying behind him off of his back, setting it down on the counter in front of him.

"I'm here to give you your cut of the Lane-hunt," said Tails.

"How much?" asked Cassie as she took a rag from a shelf and began cleaning the counter in front of Tails.

"Five grand," said Tails shortly. "Ten percent cut for the job. Then I have some extra for another job I have for you. I need some information."

"What kind of information?" asked Cassie as she put the rag back where she got it.

"What do you know of the bounty on Sonic the Hedgehog's head?" asked Tails quietly.

"Well, besides what you just told me, nothing," she replied thoughtfully. "Someone put a bounty on Sonic?"

"You didn't know?" asked a surprised Tails. "How didn't you know? You always know."

"I hadn't heard anything," said Cassie with a shrug. "How'd you find out?"

"Mammoth Mogul told me last night," explained Tails. "He wants to get some kinda sick pleasure out of it, or something."

"Okay, so what do you need to know?" Cassie asked him.

"I need to know anything you can get about whoever set the price," said Tails. "I've got five grand for you now, on top of the Lane-cut, plus five more if you can deliver."

"Oh, ye of little faith," said Cassie with a smug smile as she took the rucksack off the counter and stuck it underneath the countertop. "I'll find what you need. Don't worry."

"So, what do you need the money for?" Tails asked her. She cocked an eyebrow at him in confusion, not remembering saying anything about actually _needing_ the money. "You seemed pretty eager to get paid last night. You never come to collect, you always let me bring you the money."

"I needed to pay my sources," replied Cassie. "Do you think that the information I scrounge up for you and Brad is free?" Tails gave an understanding nod. Then she decided to change the subject. "So, you finally gonna get Brad outta your place?"

"Yes, finally," said Tails somewhat relievedly. Cassie laughed slightly at this response. "I need him out. He's driving me crazy."

"What? Is he, like, a giant slob or something?" asked Cassie, still chuckling slightly.

"I _wish_ that was it," said Tails. "I mean, he can be a bit messy, but he's mostly just lazy sometimes. But that's not even the _worst_ part. A couple nights ago, I came in to find him on my couch, _with a girl_. Then he gets all up in arms at me when I asked the girl to leave and told him not to bring anymore girls into my apartment anymore."

"Yeah, that sounds like Brad," said Cassie. "So, when does the apartment hunt begin?"

"Right after I get this business with Sonic sorted," said Tails.

"So, is this like a rescue kinda thing?" Cassie asked, turning around to grab a pot of coffee from the shelf behind her. "'Cause I don't want it getting out that I'm _helping_ a target, especially a big target, like this, that I'm not supposed to know about."

"Well, the guy's my friend, Cass," said Tails as she took a cup out and poured the coffee into it. She pointed to the pot and gave him a questioning look. Tails nodded and she pulled a second cup out and began pouring coffee into it. "What am I supposed to do? Let him get taken?"

"Well, you two haven't spoken in two years," said Cassie, taking a sip of coffee.

"So?" asked Tails somewhat defensively.

"Well, I'm just saying that people can change in two years," said Cassie. "Don't expect everything to be like it used to be."

"I don't," said Tails with a shrug. "But I do expect things to be good, at least."

"Okay," replied Cassie. "But just promise me you'll be careful in this whole hedgehog rescue of yours. The people who're behind this are powerful. They were able to stay off _my_ radar. That means they're powerful and feared, probably dangerous. Just be careful." Tails nodded silently.

"Thanks, Cass," he said quietly. He was about to say something else, but was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. He pulled the phone out and looked at the caller ID. He answered the call and put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Brad, what's up?"

"Hey, you might wanna get down here," Brad's voice said in his ear through the speaker. "A friend of ours just showed up."

* * *

><p>Sonic the Hedgehog stood in the middle of his apartment and looked around him. Boxes were piled to the ceiling all around him. The hedgehog never knew that he had this much stuff in his place. He hadn't been one for a lot of stuff. Sonic always liked to think that all he needed in life was a pair of running shoes. As long as he had those, he'd be fine. It was still true. If all of the boxes in the apartment were to burn away in a fire, he wouldn't be totally devastated by it. He might be a bit upset, but it wouldn't take very long for him to let go and move on. But it's not like he wanted them to burn away. This was stuff he liked. Stuff he wanted. A computer, some video games, some DVD's, pictures of him and his friends and family, and other odds and ends he wanted to keep, but could live without, if push came to shove.<p>

Sonic's train of thought was interrupted by a small clicking sound that came from the front door on the opposite side of the room, situated in a small hallway that branched off to the kitchen of the apartment. Sonic looked at the door just in time to see the door's bolt-lock start to slowly turn itself as the bolt receded into the door.

"Now, what idiot would try to break into _my_ place," Sonic thought aloud quietly as he readied to give the unfortunate intruder that picked his apartment to rob the ass-whooping of his life. The door opened slowly, to a crack at first. Then it opened slightly more and the muzzle of a revolver entered the apartment. As it slowly made its way farther in, a brown-gloved hand appeared. Then the hand was followed by a purple-furred arm and, before Sonic could make a move, the gun was directed at him.

"Make any moves, hedgehog, and I won't hesitate to shoot," announced a familiar voice quietly. The door opened the rest of the way, revealing a purple weasel wearing a brown fedora, a brown belt with a holster, and brown and black boots. The weasel smiled maliciously and lowered the aim of the gun slightly as he stepped into the apartment, closed the door behind him, and rebolted it silently. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kill ya, but if you make a move at me, I'll pop one to yer knee and effectively end yer running career."

"Nack," growled Sonic angrily, keeping his distance. "Y'know, you should be more careful barging into places like that. You won't be so lucky next time. The owner of the house might be right at the door, ready to beat you to hell when you come in." The weasel's smile widened as he raised his free hand up, showing off a small, black tube with a lens.

"Peephole reverser," he stated with a slight chuckle. "I saw you right there and took my chance to get you. You need to get a better lock."

"Well, I guess I should," Sonic shot back. "I thought my reputation would be enough to keep morons like you afraid to come anywhere near my house, but I guess I was wrong. So, what do you want?"

"Someone's put a price on your head, hedgehog," said Nack, putting the black tube away. "One hell of a price, at that. Enough to cover my tracks here and quietly vacation to a tropical island, where there are plenty of girls who are pretty fond of career criminals like me."

"How much is the price?" asked Sonic.

"Hundred grand," replied Nack. "Now, you come here and play nice, or I _will_ shoot yer knee out. You want to run again, right?" Sonic sighed out of frustration and put his hands in the air as he walked slowly toward the gun-wielding weasel.

* * *

><p>Tails ran quickly, Brad right on his tails, to get to Sonic's apartment. He did not want to give too much time alone with Sonic to Nack, mostly because Mogul had failed to mention whether or not Sonic was wanted alive and he knew Nack would pull the trigger on Sonic, given even the smallest reason to.<p>

Tails arrived at the apartment door and stopped on a dime in front of it, pulling out a small black tube and sticking it up to the peephole of the door. He looked through the tube and saw Nack standing with his back faced to him right in front of the door. He saw the gun in his hand pointed at Sonic, who was walking to the weasel slowly, hands in the air, with a look of frustration and disgust on his face. Tails turned to Brad, who was waiting to hear what was happening in the apartment.

"Okay, he's standing right at the door," explained Tails, putting the peephole reverser away and taking out a small tension wrench and pick. He inserted the tools and began working as quickly and quietly as he could, not wanting to ruin everything here because he was a loud lock picker. "He's got a gun on Sonic. You go for the gun after I use the door to slam the weasel into the wall." Tails made sure to layer the word "weasel" with as much disdain as possible. Brad nodded in agreement.

As he finished the sentence, the tension wrench turned the lock silently and slid the bolt into the door. Tails put the tools back in his pocket and grabbed the door, holding up three fingers. He nodded and brought one finger down. He nodded again and brought the second finger down. Finally, he inhaled sharply and drew his hand back, flicking his hand down in front of him and turning the knob, signaling to Brad to follow him in as he pushed the door open with as much force as he could muster.

* * *

><p>Sonic was walking to Nack, formulating a plan to get free when his train of thought was derailed for the second time that day by the sound of the door behind Nack swinging open, slamming the purple weasel into the wall by the door and revealing a fox with red-orange fur who was wearing a pair of loose, dark navy jeans and a white T-shirt under a black, leather jacket. The fox rushed in and grabbed the gun out of Nack's hand, spinning into the kitchen doorway and leaning against it casually as he emptied the ammunition from the firearm onto the floor. The fox bent down and picked up the bullets quickly and shoved them in front of Sonic.<p>

"Hold these, please," requested the fox with a disturbingly casual tone, considering the request involved anything to do with a lethal firearm. Sonic took the bullets absentmindedly as he processed what had just happened. He looked back to the door and saw another fox in dark navy jeans, similar to his companion's, and a black hoody jacket. He also noticed a familiar pair of red and white sneakers on the fox's feet and slowly raised his gaze to the fox's midsection, where he caught sight of two fluffy appendages whipping around behind the fox, and ended at the fox's familiar face that he could recognize in the largest of crowds.

Tails moved around the door he was pushing against Nack with and slammed the door shut, grabbing the back of the weasel's head and forcing it into the wall, using his other hand to grab a pistol out of the back of his pants and push it into the small of the weasel's back.

"Tails! Wow, thanks for barging in and saving my-" Sonic began before the fox interrupted him.

"Did you really think you could take him from _me_?" Tails growled angrily at the weasel he now had essentially restrained, ignoring the thanks of his hedgehog friend. "He's _mine_, Nack. You should know that." Sonic's ears drooped, taking his spirits down with them as he heard the fox's utterance.

"Well, why am I surprised that _you_ showed up, brat?" Nack responded with an annoyed tone. "I mean, I was thinking that you would probably interrupt my little mission here, but I thought it would be to rescue yer friend, but it looks like yer just here to snake my collar _agaqin_."

"I snaked _your_ collar?" asked a now outraged Tails. "That guy in the jewelry store was mine, fair and square. I was following him for ten whole minutes, preparing to make my move until you barged in and scared him off."

"I was specifically hired for that job," argued Nack, struggling to speak with his cheek pressed against the wall. "The bondsman is a close friend of mine. And just because you have your sights on a target doesn't make him exclusively yours, Prower."

"Which is why, rather than ask you politely to let me have him, I proceeded to chase you down and kick your ass before I went back on the hunt," retorted Tails smartly. "Now, on that note, I give you a choice. You can leave now and know what happens in the next eight hours of your life, or, this time, I won't leave you somewhere as nice as the backseat of your car." Nack thought silently for a moment before responding.

"Fine," he sighed frustratedly in defeat. Tails let him go and Brad gave him his empty gun as Tails opened the door for him. He started to walk out, but turned sharply back to the fox, who tensed up slightly, expecting a retaliation attempt from the weasel. "But mark my words, brat. I will get you back for this." Tails sneered at the weasel right before slamming the door in his face. Nack straightened his hat as he started to walk down the hallway he had been thrown out into.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so how'd ya like that one? Anyway, still not much to say right now, except that you guys are gonna have to wait a few days before I post again. Um... Yeah, that's it. So, review, flames and praises okay, favorite, alert, tell your friends, and never accept licorice from strangers. Seeya!<br>**


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Alright, here's the next chapter! Hope ya like it! Uh... Yeah, that's it. You can start reading now. Enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Now," said Tails plainly, turning his head sharply towards Sonic. "To business." Sonic dropped the bullets in his hand as he put his hands in the air, watching the gun in Tails' hand intently.<p>

"Look, little buddy," Sonic almost stammered the sentence as the prospect of fighting his little brother for survival hit him like an oncoming bus. "I know that a hundred large is a _lot_ of money and that we may have had a little bit of a fight last time we saw each other, but I personally don't think that it warrants turning me over to the enemy for a sack of money." Tails narrowed his eyes at the hedgehog upon hearing this, pursing his lips as he held the gun up by his ear, appearing, to the hedgehog, to be debating over whether or not to use the weapon in his hand. Then a wide smile spread across the foxy face as he let out a laugh and holstered the gun.

"Haha!" Tails laughed heartily. "I had even _you_ going there for a minute, huh?" Sonic cocked an eyebrow in confusion at the laughing fox. "Did you actually think that I was here to take you and hand you over for money?"

"Uh," Sonic lowered his hands and grimaced at the fox, crossing his arms across his chest. "You came in here and held a gun on Nack, telling him that I was _yours_ and that he should know that. What the hell was I supposed to think?" Tails stopped laughing and his smile disappeared from his face as he looked at the hedgehog and found that his friend wasn't taking the brief joke as lightly as he had expected.

"Well, it's nice to know that my big brother still has a _little_ faith in me," Tails retorted sarcastically. "You seriously think I'd go that far over one fight?"

"I haven't seen you in two years, Tails!" argued Sonic. "I don't know what to expect from you. I didn't even think I'd see you again. Then Nack comes busting in here, holding a gun on me, and _then_ you're not far behind him, wielding a gun yourself, and I'm trying to figure out _what the hell is going on!_"

"Then why don't we start with that," Brad cut in, silencing both Sonic and Tails. "Look, Sonic, someone put a price on your head and we don't know who it is."

"Okay, so let's find out who it is," replied Sonic. He looked back at Tails, who was watching him with a slight frown etched in his face. "Who is this?" He nodded at Brad.

"Sonic, this is Brad," said Tails, sounding somewhat frustrated. "He's my business partner." Sonic cocked an eyebrow at his friend.

"What business is that?" he asked.

"We're bounty hunters," answered Tails shortly.

"You're bounty hunters?" said Sonic disbelievingly. "Since when?"

"Two years," replied Tails with a shrug.

"Oh, so that's what you did when you quit," said Sonic, narrowing his eyes at Tails somewhat coldly. "You went into bounty hunting?"

"Well, yeah, after I quit, I met Brad and he introduced me to it," said Tails. "I thought, since I already had a lot of experience in that kinda field, y'know, like experience you gave me?"

"Okay, guys, now is _not_ the time to play catch-up," both Sonic and Tails looked to Brad, who was leaning against the wall by the front door. "Mi', do you think someone else will come after Sonic anytime soon?"

"Bean the Dynamite is probably stupid enough to try," said Tails thoughtfully. "He'll probably level the place with explosives. I can think of a few others, as well."

"So, should we get outta here?" Brad asked.

"Can't hurt," said Tails with a shrug. "We've got more to defend ourselves with there and no one knows I live there. We'll be safe there."

"Sounds like a plan," said Brad in agreement.

"So, why don't you get the car while I get Sonic into a decent disguise?" said Tails. Brad nodded silently before walking out the door. Tails turned to Sonic, who was watching the fox thoughtfully. Tails decided to break the silence before it could set in. "So, you moving?" Tails walked farther into the living room and looked at the boxes piled against the wall.

"Yeah, I'm moving into the castle," said Sonic quietly.

"With Sally?" asked Tails curiously.

"Well, not _with_ her," said Sonic. "Not until we're married, at least. Y'know, being traditional about it. But I'm gonna have my own room in the castle. The royal dudes were supposed to be coming today to help me move my stuff."

"Oh," said Tails, turning back to Sonic. "Well, congrats, by the way."

"Thanks," replied Sonic quietly. "I wish you coulda been there when we made the announcement. Everyone else was. I tried to send you an invitation, but you didn't show."

"I didn't know that you were going to publicly announce your engagement, Sonic," said Tails earnestly, looking down at his shoes and rubbing his neck uncomfortably. "I just thought it was a regular dinner, and after what happened, like the fight and two years of estrangement, I just thought the experience would be more awkward than happy for me." Sonic watched him silently for a moment before responding.

"Well, now that you're here, I can at least invite you to the wedding, right?" asked Sonic somewhat happily. "I'm also still looking for a best man, if you want to think about that."

"Let's talk about this later," said Tails quietly, looking down at the floor and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Right now, we need to sort out some other business. You got any clothes you could wear to hide yourself?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Sonic with a slight groan, giving Tails a look that clearly told him how he felt about wearing clothes. "I think I have a pair of pants and a black zip-up somewhere."

"Okay, that's good," said Tails. "Do you have something to cover your head? Like a beanie or a hat?"

"The jacket has a hood," suggested Sonic. "Would that work?"

"I think it could," said Tails, shrugging thoughtfully. "Okay, now for the question I'm kinda afraid to ask." Sonic looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what kind of question would frighten the fox. "Do you have any different shoes?"

"Oh, come on, Tails," said Sonic in annoyance. "Why can't I keep the shoes?"

"Sonic, your shoes are, like, a trademark," argued Tails. "The idea here is to hide you. That won't work if you have your shoes on."

"Fine," groaned Sonic. He walked to the boxes against the wall and started digging through them. After a minute or so, he pulled out a pair of dark black shoes. "These are my dress shoes."

"You have dress shoes?" Tails asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I only wear them when I go to private, black-tie events," said Sonic. "Like big, formal events where I'm a guest and not a public figure making an appearance. They usually accompany a suit." Tails nodded his head understandingly.

"Well, that'll be great," said Tails. "Do you have a paper bag or something I could carry your sneakers in?"

"Yeah, I'll go get one," said Sonic. "Why don't you start looking through the boxes for my clothes?" Tails nodded his agreement and started searching them.

Five minutes later, Tails was inspecting Sonic's new outfit, slightly amazed at how a black pair of pants and a dark blue jacket with a hood suddenly made his best friend unrecognizable to even him. Sonic looked _completely_ different now.

"Wow," remarked Tails quietly. "You look like a different hedgehog, Sonic. As long as you keep your head down and don't run anywhere, no one will recognize you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Sonic in frustration. "Look, can we get outta here and to your place soon? I really wanna get outta these." Sonic didn't like his new look. He hated the trapped feeling clothes gave him. He could feel the quills on his back being folded down by the jacket he was wearing and his legs felt restricted in the pants he had on. It took all his willpower not to spin-dash the clothes to shreds and walk away from them. Then there were the shoes, which, unlike his sneakers, were heavy and uncomfortable to wear. He abhorred every experience he had wearing them and had had them hidden away in a box for a reason.

"Sure, let's go," said Tails, turning for the door and beckoning for Sonic to follow. Sonic followed closely, putting his hood up to hide his head and face. They made their way down to the front of the building, where Brad was waiting for them. Tails climbed into the passenger seat while Sonic got into the backseat of the car.

"So, you don't have anything on who wants me dead?" asked Sonic from the backseat as Brad pulled away from the curb.

"Well, we have a suspect, but that's about it," said Tails. "We also have someone doing some deep digging."

"Who's the suspect?" asked Sonic, laying down in the backseat of the car.

"Snively," said Tails. "He sound good? See, I thought that he had a big score to settle with you and we haven't seen any of him in a _long_ time, so it kinda sounded up his alley to put a fake bounty on you."

"Do you really think he could deal with anyone who'd get mad at him for ripping them off?" asked Sonic.

"Well, he can be kinda dangerous sometimes," said Tails with a shrug. "I can't think of anyone else."

"What about the people like the Suppression Squad or the Destructix?" asked Sonic curiously.

"Well, I don't think the Suppression Squad is even in our universe," said Tails. "And I think the Destructix are dead."

"What makes you think they're dead?" asked Sonic. Tails momentarily flashed a look sidelong at Brad.

"I- I hear rumors," said Tails somewhat uncomfortably, looking down at the floor of the car.

"Alright, so, who's the guy doing the 'deep digging'?" asked Sonic, ignoring Tails slightly unusual response.

"Cassie," said Brad and Tails plainly in unison.

"Oh, so it's not a guy," said Sonic. He sat up and poked his head up past the front seats. "So, who is she? She your girlfriend, Brad?" Tails let out a small laugh at this question, at which point, Brad narrow-eyed Tails for a moment.

"No, she's not my girlfriend," said Brad with a sigh.

"Oh, so is she Tails' girlfriend?" asked Sonic somewhat mischievously.

"Now, that's a funny idea," said Brad, taking his turn to laugh. "Mi' having a girlfriend."

"Why's that funny?" asked Tails defensively.

"You don't even understand the concept of romance," said Brad. "I don't think I've ever seen you have any romantic interest in anyone."

"Well, I don't know why that is," said Sonic. "Long time ago, Tails and I got in a huge fight over a girl. I mean, there were other issues at play, too, but the whole fiasco came to blows in the end. A_ lot_ of blows."

"Well, that was a special case," said Tails defensively. "I was a stupid kid and I had a childhood crush on her."

"Whatever," said Sonic, dismissively waving his hand. "We don't need to rehash that. So, how's bounty hunting treating you guys?"

"It has its ups and downs," said Tails nonchalantly.

"And we are in a serious 'up' right now," said Brad happily. "Last night, we did a job for fifty G's. And before that, one for fifteen."

"Who paid you fifty thousand dollars?" asked Sonic interestedly.

"Mammoth Mogul," replied Brad.

"What are you doing working for Mammoth Mogul?" Sonic asked Tails concernedly.

"I'm not _working_ for him," said Tails. "We just did one little job for him. There was a guy he was looking for and we found him. Then we brought the guy to him and he paid us a lot of money. Then he told us about the price on your head."

"Oh, so we're doing all this on Mogul's word," said Sonic, sarcastically feigning excitement. "That's just _great_."

"Okay, I think that the fact that Nack broke into your apartment and held a gun on you is enough to prove Mogul right," argued Tails. "And we're doing everything the _safe_ way. We're laying you low until we learn more. After we learn more, we can decide what action to take."

"Fine," grumbled Sonic, plopping back down in the back seat. "This Cassie girl better be good at what she does."

"Oh, she is," said Brad plainly. The rest of the short ride passed in silence. Then the walk up to Tails' apartment went in silence too, as Sonic wasn't allowed to speak or show too much of his face while they all made their way there. No one was more excited than Sonic at the arrival to the foxes' shared residence. No sooner had Tails turned the knob on the door than had Sonic rushed into the apartment, grabbing the paper bag that held his shoes out of Tails' hand on the way. By the time Tails and Brad had gotten to the living room, Sonic had already stripped his clothes off and replaced the dress shoes that had been on his feet with his beloved sneakers.

"Finally," said Sonic happily, stretching his arms out, enjoying the freedom that he was so used to that the clothes had taken from him.

"Oh, that's another thing I don't like about him," Brad grumbled to Tails. "He doesn't wear clothes." Tails rolled his eyes at his friend's comment and watched as he walked out of the room and toward the front door.

"Where are you going?" Tails asked him curiously.

"I'm gonna go apartment hunting," answered Brad shortly. "Call me if Cassie tells you anything."

"Good luck," called Tails, receiving the shutting of the front door as a reply. He turned back to Sonic, who was lying back on the couch, watching him curiously.

"Apartment hunting?" asked Sonic interestedly. "Does he live with you?"

"I let him crash here after he got evicted a while ago," explained Tails. "One night, he got a little too drunk, blew all his money."

"Oh," said Sonic quietly. "So, bounty hunting pays pretty nice, huh?"

"I said it had its downs, too," said Tails. "There was a time last year where I had to work as a mechanic for two months because Brad and I couldn't find a job."

"But you love doing that kinda stuff," pointed out Sonic.

"Yeah, I was just saying that it's not always so good-paying," said Tails.

"Speaking of which, you ever work on the Tornado anymore?" asked Sonic. "I mean, I've gone down to its hanger a couple times, but I haven't seen you there for a while. Not since right after our fight, anyway. And then, when I did see you there, you'd either leave or avoid me."

"I go down there sometimes," said Tails as he sat down in his recliner next to the couch. "I don't know, I guess I was still angry back then. Just guess I didn't feel like talking to you."

"I tried to talk to you," said Sonic quietly. "I went down to your place a couple times. I called you, too. No one ever answered. After about a month, I just gave up. I thought that if you really wanted to fix things, there wasn't anything stopping you. Then we never really saw each other again."

"Yeah," said Tails quietly. "Well, I wanna now. I was actually gonna come over this afternoon to do it."

"And then you learned someone wanted me dead," said Sonic. He remained silent for a few moments before continuing. "So, what? Forgive and forget?"

"Fine with me," said Tails, shrugging nonchalantly. The next few hours were spent by the two reconciled friends filling each other in on what the other has missed in each one's life. When Brad came home, the two friends were eating lunch. He walked in to find Sonic eating a sandwich and Tails making a second one for himself.

"How was the hunt?" asked Tails as he finished making the sandwich.

"Found a couple places I like," answered Brad.

"That's good," said Tails as Brad took a seat next to him around the small table in Tails' kitchen. He grabbed a couple slices of bread and began making his own sandwich. "Maybe we can get you outta here soon."

"Yep," said Brad in agreement. "So, you two friends again?" Sonic and Tails both nodded at him. Tails took a bite out of his sandwich and began chewing it, only to be interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He quickly grabbed it off the table and answered, putting it to his ear.

"Hewwo?" he greeted through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Hey, Miles, how's it goin'?" asked Cassie over the speaker in his ear. Tails quickly swallowed his food before answering.

"I'm fine, Cass," he said politely. "How's it with you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," replied Cassie happily.

"So, did you find anything that will make me smile?" asked Tails coolly.

"Well, I don't know about _smiling_, exactly, but I did find the source of the phone signal for the number Mogul gave you," explained Cassie.

"I'm smiling," said Tails happily, cracking a small grin. "Where is it?"

"In the Great Forest," said Cassie. "But that was the good part, it's _supposed_ to make you smile. This next part's the strange part."

"What's strange?" asked Tails confusedly, grin disappearing.

"Well, when I looked up satellite pics," started Cassie. "There wasn't anything in the photos that showed something that would transmit a phone signal."

"Maybe the photos are old," suggested Tails. "Or maybe the trees are covering it."

"Nope, the photos were taken from live feed," replied Cassie. "And the signal is coming from a clearing in the forest. A _big_ clearing."

"How do we know that you traced the signal to the exactly right coordinates?" asked Tails.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't ask that," answered Cassie shortly. "Anyway, that's all I found. I'll call you if I find anything more."

"Alright, seeya," said Tails before hanging up the phone. He put the phone on the table and took another bite of his sandwich. After he had swallowed, he told Sonic and Brad about what Cassie told him.

"Okay, so, are we gonna go check it out?" asked Sonic after Tails had finished explaining.

"Yep," said Brad, standing up and walking over to the kitchen drawer and opening it. He reached in and pulled out a chrome handgun. He cocked it and put it in the back waist of his pants. He pulled out a second, black gun and placed it in front of Tails.

"So, how long did it take for you to work through the 'no-guns' philosophy the Fighters nailed into your skull?" asked Sonic, giving Tails a slightly disappointed look.

"Well, it's not like we're going around killing people," said Tails defensively. "Usually, we use rubber rounds. They're only lethal at really close ranges, so they don't really work for killing, but they're great for incapacitating targets. But this one, here, is big, Sonic. We need to step it up."

"You really think you're gonna have to kill someone?" asked Sonic challengingly.

"I don't know," said Tails with a shrug as he holstered his gun in the back of his pants. "But we'll probably need to make the threat. We can't just go into this unarmed." Sonic gave Tails a hard stare, thinking over the fox's words before responding.

"Okay, fine," he said reluctantly. "But you can count me out of the gun-using. _Freedom Fighters_ don't use guns."

"Okay," said Brad with a nod. "So, let's go. I wanna get this over with as fast as possible." Sonic and Tails nodded at him in agreement, standing up from the table.

"Can I at least run there?" asked Sonic as he headed for the door. "I need to run a little, Tails."

"Nope," replied Tails flatly. "Whoever this is probably has some kind of radar to watch out for you. If they see anything faster than a car coming at them, they'll be ready for us when we get there. We need to keep the element of surprise." Sonic groaned frustratedly as he led the two foxes out the front door.

The drive down to the Great Forest was completely silent, save the sound of the car's engine. No one spoke until they had arrived on the outskirts of the forest and everyone started getting out.

"Okay, so, how far in is this, Mi'?" Brad asked as he closed the driver's side door after he got out of the car. Tails and Sonic shut their doors and turned towards the forest.

"It's a little ways in," answered Tails thoughtfully. "Shouldn't be too long a walk. Just follow me and Sonic. We know this place like the backs of our hands."

"Yep, so, let's go," said Sonic as he started past the trees and into the forest. Tails and Brad followed close behind him. The first quarter of an hour of the walk in was as silent as the car ride there. Finally, Tails decided to break the silence.

"Wow, why are we all so quiet?" he said in mock thoughtfulness. "Y'know, I remember most of our missions into Robotropolis when I was little were noisier on our part than this, Sonic."

"Well, I don't have much to say right now," replied Sonic calmly.

"I thought you'd be more talkative when I saw you again," remarked Tails with a shrug. "I thought after two years of estrangement, you'd have more to say."

"I have a lot to say to you, Tails," said Sonic somewhat firmly. "But now just doesn't seem like a good time to say them."

"Point taken," said Tails with an understanding nod.

"Hey, guys, wait up!" called Brad from behind them, bending down to his feet. "I have to tie my shoe." Tails looked at Sonic, who rolled his eyes in annoyance before continuing on through the forest.

"Don't get too far behind," Tails called back as he followed Sonic. "It's easy to get lost if you don't know you're way around here." He and Sonic walked for about a minute before they stopped to wait for Brad to catch up.

"So, how much farther, Tails?" Sonic asked as he leaned against a tree, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Not far," answered Tails. "We should be getting close." Sonic nodded. Then he narrowed his eyes at Tails slightly.

"So, is there any way I can get you back on the Freedom Fighters?" Sonic asked him quietly.

"No," replied Tails quietly, shaking his head slightly. "I like doing this. And, who knows? I might just try something else out, too. Mechanic, again, maybe."

"Yeah, but you can be a Freedom Fighter, too," said Sonic.

"How can I say I'm one of the people who are always on guard to defend the planet when I'm spending my time bounty hunting?" asked Tails challengingly. "Or fixing planes and cars? Or following some other kind of major career path?"

"Okay, that's the best excuse you could think of?" asked Sonic skeptically.

"Look, the point is that I don't want to rejoin the team, Sonic," said Tails firmly. "I like being on my own. I like what I'm doing. I like having my options open like this."

"So, is that why you wanted to quit in the first place?" asked Sonic quietly.

"No, it's not," replied Tails.

"Then why did you quit?" asked Sonic. Tails looked him in the eye, staying silent as he thought over the question. Then something occurred to him.

"How long have we been waiting for Brad?" asked Tails suddenly.

"Three minutes, maybe," said Sonic with an indifferent shrug. "Don't avoid the question, Tails."

"No, but he had to tie his shoe," said Tails quietly. "He should have caught up by now."

"Maybe he got lost," said Sonic. "We can go look in a minute. First, I want an answer."

"No, he wouldn't have gotten lost that easily," said Tails, more quietly this time. "I don't like this, Sonic. Something's wrong."

"Like what, Tails?" asked Sonic challengingly. "I just think you're trying to avoid a question, here."

"Well, let's not dismiss his ideas yet, Sonic," said a familiar voice that echoed from behind the trees around Sonic and Tails.

"Wait, I know that voice," said Tails suspiciously, putting his hand on the handle of his gun.

"I mean, y'know, he could be _right_," Tails and Sonic watched as a figure emerged from behind the trees around them, bringing another figure with it. Out of the trees stepped a red-furred vixen. She had short, dark red hair that was tied back in a small ponytail and she was wearing dark black cargo pants and a tight, dark black, sleeveless top that showed off her midriff to match. In her arm, hugged tight to her chest, was Brad. She had her arm wrapped around his neck and, in her other hand, she held a handgun, barrel pressed against Brad's face.

"_Fiona_," Tails had his gun out and trained on the vixen in a flash.

"Careful, there, Tails," warned Fiona sharply. "You don't want me to hurt your friend, here, do you?" She smiled evilly and pressed the gun into Brad's face harder, causing him to let out a low, angry growl.

"So, what? You're the one who put a price on Sonic's head?" asked Tails quickly.

"Well, I helped," said Fiona, feigning innocence.

"Who'd you help?" demanded Sonic, taking a combative stance, ready to fight if he needed to.

"No, I'll ask the questions around here, blue-boy," said Fiona shortly. "Starting with this: Are you two gonna surrender peacefully?" Neither Sonic nor Tails made a move, either to surrender or attack. "Okay, you know what? Upgrade that to a demand. Sonic, stand down. Tails, drop the gun." Sonic stood down, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning up against the tree behind him. However, Tails held his ground, ignoring the order to surrender and keeping his gun trained on Fiona. Fiona eyed him with a hard glare. She pushed the muzzle of her gun into Brad's face again to help emphasize her point. "Drop it now." Tails still held the gun on her, determined not to give in to her.

"Tails, drop it," Tails heard Sonic's voice behind him. "C'mon, she's not worth the risk. Just give up so we can get the civilian outta here and then we'll make our move later." Tails was silent and unmoving as he thought this over. Finally, he lowered the gun slowly and let it fall out of his hand to the ground.

"Good," said Fiona slowly. "Now, you're gonna come with us."

"Who's us?" asked Tails in a low growl. Tails never received an answer. Instead, he watched as Fiona drew her gun back and launched it into Brad's head, sending him to the ground with a pained groan, unconscious. Before Tails could say anything, he was interrupted by the sound of the dull thud of someone's fist making contact with another someone's head and then the sound of a body falling to the ground. Tails turned to find Sonic lying face-down in the dirt at his feet. Then, before he could look around for the hedgehog's assailant, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. He was suddenly overcome with dizziness and his legs buckled under him.

He fell to the ground and onto his back. As he watched the darkness consume his vision, he saw two figures come into his view. One was Fiona, smiling down at him with a malicious grin. The other was a green hedgehog that looked exactly like Sonic, except for the two, angry red scars that ran parallel to each other across his chest, the black leather jacket he was wearing, the dark black sunglasses that sat on his nose, allowing his eyes, that were positively alive with sadistic joy, to stare down at his new prey, and the evil smile that showed off a row of sharp, pointed teeth.

"Nighty night, mutant boy," said Scourge the hedgehog maliciously as he watched Tails close his eyes and slip into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, good cliffhanger? You want to know what happens next? Well, you're gonna have to wait. I've got chapter four written out, but I'm still working on it. Something about it just doesn't feel... right. So, maybe... a week? Yeah, that's a good, safe estimation. A week. I'll post it sometime next weekend. So, 'til then, review, favorite, alert, tell friends, and never drink coffee out of a purple mug with rainbow polka-dots. Seeya!<br>**


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, here's chapter 4! My story has finally caught up with me. I'm still writing chapter 5 right now. And I might be for a while. I've decided to leave this story be for a little bit. I'm having trouble with the next chappie. I know what's gonna happen, and I've written over half of it, but there are parts that I'm having trouble wording and phrasing right, so I need time to work that out. Also, I'm gonna start to pay more attention to my other story, which I've been kind of neglecting, so that's also gonna take part of my writing time. I'd say that it might take about two weeks. I'm definitely aiming to update again before Christmas, though, so you can count on that as a deadline. So, no more to say. Read and enjoy!  
><strong>

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><p>Tails woke up with a splitting headache, originating from the large bump on the back of his head. Tails couldn't remember where he had gotten the bump from. The last thing he could remember was following Sonic into the Great Forest. After that, everything was blank.<p>

"He finally wakes," Tails turned on the spot at the sound of the voice, jumping out of the bed he had awoken in alarm. He turned to find a wall of prison bars, separating half of the room he was in from his half. On the other side of the bars stood someone who nearly made Tails jump back in alarm.

On the other side of the bars was a fox. This fox was almost a mirror image to Tails himself, except for that he had a lighter tone of fur color, short, jet black, slicked back hair, and he lacked the small scars and goatee that Tails had. He was wearing a red and black military-like uniform, a spiked punk bracelet on his left wrist, and he had a punk earring in his right ear.

"Miles," said Tails softly as he stared at his Moebian counterpart. Then it hit him. He remembered seeing Fiona with Brad in the forest. He remembered dropping his gun in surrender. He remembered Scourge's evilly sadistic stare gazing down at him as he slipped into unconsciousness. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" asked Miles balefully, staring at Tails like he was an idiot. "I'm in here for my health."

"Well, it's not like I _asked_ for you to come popping your head into my prison cell," snapped Tails defensively. "It's not like I _want_ you here."

"Well, do you think I _want_ to be here?" asked Miles angrily. "_Especially_ with _you_? You think I _wanted_ you to be _my_ cellmate?"

"Whoa, hold on, you said 'cellmate'," said Tails with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes," replied Miles impatiently. "Yes, I am your cellmate. We're both prisoners, here. We are both Scourge's prisoners."

"Why are you a prisoner?" asked Tails confusedly.

"What? You think Fiona and Scourge are stupid enough to let me free?" retorted Miles.

"But why'd they lock you up?" asked Tails. "I mean, it's not like you're a threat to them. At least, not willingly. I don't think they'd be afraid of you trying to stop them."

"They need me," said Miles acidly, crossing his arms and glaring at Tails.

"What for?" asked Tails, sitting down on the bed behind him.

"Well, how do you think you and Sonic got here?" asked Miles irritatedly. "I _led_ you here. How do you think your girlfriend got the tip about Jack Lane? Who do you think told Mogul about Sonic when you showed up at his office? Who do you think told Nack? Who do you think made it so easy for Cassie to track our phone signal? They've been having me lay bait for you since the word 'go', and you took _every_ single piece. I've been following you everywhere, listening to your phone conversations, and everything else I could do to learn every move you were making."

"And you got what out of it?" asked Tails challengingly. "A cage to live in? What are you doing this for, freedom?" Miles stared at Tails, hardening his glare and narrowing his eyes.

"I get to live," said Miles slowly, barely whispering loud enough for Tails to hear. "Scourge found me and captured me. Then he told me that I was gonna do whatever he wanted me to do to help him capture Sonic the Hedgehog and that I would live if I did. When I refused, he tortured me." Miles looked down at his feet. "It's amazing how close to death someone can push another and still be able to drag them away from it. From then on, I did what he wanted." Tails watched as he turned away and sat down at a desk with a computer at it, leaning back in the chair and sighing heavily. Then Tails' attention was jerked away by a door to his right opening.

"Well, it seems you two have gotten yourselves properly acquainted," Fiona walked into the room, shutting the door behind her and smiling maliciously down at Tails.

"Well, the bitch is back," said Tails coolly. Fiona widened her smile slightly.

"Tails, that's no way to talk to a lady, now, is it?" she said, feigning a scolding tone.

"I know, but you're not really a lady, are you?" retorted Tails. At this, Fiona's wide smile disappeared in an instant, immediately replaced by an irritated scowl.

"Fine, you wanna irritate your captors?" she snapped in a quiet, menacing tone. "See how far that gets you when I'm kicking your teeth in."

"Go ahead and try," said Tails challengingly, standing up to her eye level. "Give me a reason to try and fight you. I'm kinda curious to see who'd win."

"Oh, Tails," said Fiona in a condescending tone. "You think you're so tough, now that you're all grown up." She sat down on the bed and crossed her legs, leaning back and looking up at Tails with a smug smile. "I remember the days when I could've worked you over with a kind word and an enticing smile." She gave a theatrical sigh. "You would've just _melted_ in my hands."

"Yeah, when I was _ten_, Fiona," said Tails shortly. "So, why do you and your boyfriend want Sonic and me so much?"

"Well, firstly, Scourge is _not_ my boyfriend," corrected Fiona. "Not anymore, anyway. And secondly, with Sonic, do you have to ask?"

"Yeah, because this is about more than revenge, or a score to settle, or whatever you wanna call it," argued Tails, sitting down at the head of the bed and facing Fiona. "No, if this was about that, you guys would have come at Sonic head-on or gone about doing it some other sneaky way, but you wouldn't have had other people doing your dirty work. No, you would have wanted to do everything yourselves. You guys are trying really hard to stay in the shadows, so this is for something bigger than revenge. Now, why do you want Sonic, and, more importantly, me, so bad?"

"Worked all that out yourself, did you?" asked Fiona playfully.

"I had some help," said Tails flatly, flashing a small glance at Miles, who was watching somewhat intently from his desk chair, glowering darkly at the pair of foxes on the other side of the bars that separated them.

"Well, we want Sonic because someone offered me and Scourge a very sizable prize for him," said Fiona with a smirk.

"What kinda 'prize'?" asked Tails.

"The kind that I'm not gonna tell you about," replied Fiona.

"C'mon, you can tell me," said Tails quietly, putting on a sly face, scooting himself next to the vixen, and laying his head on her shoulder. "You know how trustworthy I am. Just whisper it in my ear and it can be our little secret." Fiona looked at him and widened the smirk on her face. Then she grabbed Tails by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall, twisting herself in one, swift movement on top of Tails and into a straddling position in his lap. She smiled enticingly as she leaned in towards his face.

"Oh, Tails, you know me, too," she whispered to him. "So, you know that it takes a _lot_ more than a sly attitude and a cunning tone to work me over." Tails flinched slightly in discomfort as she laid her hands on his chest. "Y'know, when we brought you here, Scourge told me to strip-search you for weapons and stuff of that sort, and when I got a good look at you, seeing how big and strong you are now, I felt a bit of regret that I didn't buy a ticket on your train when you were practically trying to give them away to me." Tails could feel himself blushing violently under the fur on his muzzle. Fiona moved in closer, touching her nose to his. "Aww, am I making you uncomfortable?" Tails gulped and nodded slightly in response. He was starting to regret the idea he had of warming up to Fiona to get her to talk. He knew that the attempt would probably prove fruitless; he had done it more for the sake of a joke to annoy or irritate her, but he hadn't expected it to come to this. She smiled and pushed herself off of him slowly.

"Word to the wise, Tailsy," she continued. "If you really wanna try and get me to talk by cuddling up to me and whatnot, make sure you're willing to go as far as I want to. Otherwise, stay down, boy."

"Fine," said Tails as he scooted back to the other side of the bed. She gave him a sadistic smirk before turning to the door.

"Okay, well, I've had my fun," she said as she opened the door. "I'll be back later to feed you. So, play nicely, boys." She walked out, closing the door behind her.

"You had that coming to you," Tails looked at Miles' side of the room, where he was watching the two-tailed Mobian somewhat amusedly from his desk chair.

"Oh, like you would have been any better at cracking her," shot back Tails shortly as he laid himself out on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Maybe not, but I would definitely at least have gone a lot farther with her," replied Miles coolly. "She's feisty and she's hot." Tails looked up at him, shooting him a disbelieving look. "Really, I would have. Scourge would probably kill me, but it's not like I have anything to look forward to after I'm finished being useful to him."

"Well, call me old fashioned, but, ideally, I would like my first time to be with someone I'm in love with," said Tails, looking back up at the ceiling. "At least with someone I actually like. But definitely not with Fiona." Miles shrugged thoughtfully. "So, Miles, what do you know? Who's the big, scary dude holding on to Scourge by the collar?"

"The hell if I know," sighed Miles tiredly. "You think they tell me anything? No, I'm just the guy that they enslaved because they can't operate a computer." Tails let out a tired sigh of his own.

"Well, why'd they capture me?" asked Tails. "Do you know that?"

"You were just luck," said Miles. "They were instructed by their boss to operate quietly, so they thought it'd be a good idea to have a bounty hunter do all the work for them. They didn't expect it to work, but they thought it'd be worth a shot for a 'Plan A'. Anyway, after doing some research on bounty hunting, I found out about someone who's been doing a little bounty hunting of his own. So, since they knew you'd be the biggest pain in their asses after they kidnapped Sonic, they made me lay a very complicated trap out for you so they could kill two birds with one stone." Tails thought this over silently.

"So, why not just kill me?" asked Tails, mostly to himself.

"Dude, don't question it," said Miles with a disbelieving chuckle. "Don't ask the psycho 'why not?' because you don't want the psycho to think 'why not?'."

"Yeah, but still..." Tails' voice trailed off as he drifted off into his thoughts. Then something occurred to him. "Hey, what happened to Brad? What'd they do to him?"

"They have him locked up alone in another cell," said Miles nonchalantly.

"Why keep _him_ alive?" asked Tails, again to himself.

"Probably for the same reason they kept you alive," said Miles quietly. Tails didn't reply, choosing to go back to his thoughts. He didn't like the sound of someone who was powerful enough to get control of Scourge, even if it was for a paid job. He knew he needed to find out who it was and he knew he couldn't do it from in this cell. He needed to get out of here.

* * *

><p>"Okay, why am I here, again, Sal?" asked the red echidna that was following closely behind the squirrel princess of New Mobotropolis.<p>

"Because I caught you on my way out of the castle and decided to replace the guards who were coming with me with you," explained Sally as she continued walking down the hallway of the apartment building. "We haven't seen each other in a while and the guards have better things to do than help me and Sonic move him out of his apartment."

"What, and I don't?" argued Knuckles somewhat annoyedly as he and Sally stopped in front of the door into Sonic's apartment. Sally knocked on the door and crossed her arms as she waited.

"Not until tonight," replied Sally smugly. "C'mon, you haven't seen Sonic in a while, either. Not since your wedding, and, what was that, a year ago?"

"Well, I've been busy," said Knuckles pointedly. "Things back home have been crazy since the new baby came. I was actually glad to get off the island for once when you're brother called me for a meeting, this evening."

"Well, then consider this a vacation," said Sally. "A vacation, granted, in which you help your friend move out, but still."

"Is he even home?" asked Knuckles, noticing that Sonic hadn't yet shown any sign of answering the door.

"He should be," said Sally in an annoyed tone, knocking on the door again, this time more loudly than before. "Hey, Sonic! Open up!" She tried opening the door. Locked.

"Maybe he went out on a run," suggested Knuckles.

"He shouldn't have," said Sally frustratedly, knocking loudly again. "But it wouldn't surprise me if he did."

"Don't you have a key or something?" Knuckles asked with a cocked eyebrow

"I left it at home," groaned Sally.

"Okay, let me try," said Knuckles as he stepped beside her and started banging on the door, louder than Sally. "Hey! Sonic! Open up!" He continued banging loudly for another few seconds. Finally, he stopped and turned away from the door. "Okay, let's go down to the lobby. The doorman should have a key or something." He started walking down the hallway back to the elevator, only to be stopped by the sound of a loud crash behind him. He turned around to find Sally standing in front of an open doorway with a broken frame.

"Got it open," she said coolly as she walked inside. Knuckles chuckled softly and followed after her, catching up to her as she was walking into the living room of Sonic's apartment.

"Is it really prudent for a princess to be kicking in doors like that?" asked Knuckles amusedly.

"Ah, I'll pay for it later," said Sally dismissively. "Besides, it's not like I make a habit of it."

"Whatever," chuckled Knuckles softly. They both stopped in the middle of the living room and surveyed it silently. There were cardboard boxes on the floor all over the room, most stacked up against the back wall, but some were sitting in the middle of the room and some were even tipped over, contents spilled out of their tops and onto the floor around them. "Sure isn't big on cleaning, is he?"

"Something about this doesn't feel right, Knuckles," said Sally quietly. "Where is he?"

"Maybe he's out on a run," Knuckles repeated the suggestion. "What could be wrong?"

"Maybe someone broke in," suggested Sally worriedly.

"And locked the door on their way out?" challenged Knuckles with a skeptical look. "He's obviously either somewhere in here, probably napping, or he left to go do something, probably running. Does either of those things _not_ sound like Sonic?" Sally shrugged thoughtfully. "How about you go check his bedroom?" Sally nodded and started for the bedroom, leaving him alone with the junk scattered on the ground. He looked around at the various boxes that were lying around him. He bent down to one and started looking through it. He found various odds and ends of Sonic's, including a pair of gloves that caught his attention. He saw that one of the gloves was glowing faintly from the inside. Knuckles pulled it out and felt inside it, looking for the source of the glowing. He pulled out a medium-sized, glowing, blue gemstone.

"Where did you get this?" Knuckles wondered aloud under his breath. "And what's sitting in its shrine back on Angel Island?" Knuckles' train of thought about the emerald was interrupted by the sound of a frightened shriek that echoed through the apartment from what Knuckles guessed was Sonic's bedroom.

Knuckles jolted to his feet, pocketing the chaos emerald and running to the source of the scream as fast as he could. He ran into Sonic's bedroom to find Sally standing over an unconscious Nack the Weasel, staring down at him angrily as he started to come around. As he sat up, Knuckles grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off his feet, pinning him to the wall and drawing his other fist back behind his head, threatening to punch through Nack's face.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa, there! Easy!" screamed Nack excitedly.

"What'd you do with Sonic?" demanded Sally angrily.

"I didn't do nothin', honest!" said Nack quickly.

"Yeah, sure," said Knuckles skeptically. "How about this: You tell us, I don't hurt you. You don't, I beat your face in."

"I didn't!" repeated Nack desperately. "I wanted to and I was going to, but I didn't."

"Why didn't you?" asked Sally, just as skeptical as Knuckles.

"Well, see, somebody put a bounty on your boy's head, so I came here to snatch him and collect," explained Nack nervously. "I got here and I had 'im right where I wanted 'im. But then yer little, two-tailed psycho barged in and stopped me. Said that Sonic was his catch and that I should stay away if I knew what was good for me."

"Two-tailed psycho?" asked Sally. "As in, Tails?"

"Yeah," said Nack, nodding furiously. "I mean, he's small, but he can pack a punch. I can take him, but I didn't wanna risk Sonic jumping in for the fight. Plus, he had that other, fox friend of his."

"So, wait," said Sally confusedly. She motioned to Knuckles to put him down. Knuckles did so, but kept himself ready to grab the weasel again should he try to break for it. "Tails came and stopped you from kidnapping Sonic so he could kidnap him himself?"

"That's right," said Nack, maybe a little too happily. Then he immediately frowned angrily afterward. "Stole another one of my collars from right under my nose."

"I don't believe you," said Sally, narrowing her eyes coldly at Nack.

"Believe what you want, Your Highness," said Nack teasingly. "That brat came in here and kidnapped the blue speedster himself. At gunpoint, I might add."

"So, why are you still here?" growled Knuckles.

"Well, I thought Sonic was about done for," said Nack quickly. "Thought I'd, uh, sneak in and do a little looting. 'Cept Blue-Boy's got nothing valuable enough for me to steal."

"Well, you missed something when you were looking through the boxes out in the living room," said Knuckles, taking out the chaos emerald and showing it to Nack. Nack's face fell in annoyance as he gazed at the glowing gem in the echidna's hand.

"Okay, Nack, why should we believe you?" asked Sally challengingly.

"Well, don't take my word for it," said Nack with a smile. "Go down to the doorman. Ask if he saw the little brat come in. Go down to the security desk and look at the footage of the hallway outside. This building's got cameras, y'know." Sally gave him a contemptuous look.

"Nack, if you aren't out of this building, empty handed of Sonic's possessions, in five minutes, I'll have your ass thrown in jail for trespassing and attempted kidnapping," growled Sally hatefully. Nack nodded and took a few things out of the bags on his belt. He started to walk out, but was stopped by Knuckles, who put his arm out in front of the weasel and gave him a warning look. Nack sighed annoyedly and took a few more things out of the bags on his belt, dropping them to the floor. Knuckles moved his arm and Nack left the room. Sally and Knuckles followed him out.

Ten minutes later, Sally was getting into her limo, where Knuckles was waiting for her silently.

"You want the good news or the bad news?" asked Sally somewhat tiredly.

"There's _good_ news?" asked Knuckles, perking up slightly and cocking an eyebrow at the squirrel.

"If the building tries to bill me for the door, I can get on them for letting my boyfriend get kidnapped," she said, feigning cheerfulness.

"Then what's the bad news?" asked Knuckles.

"That the doorman did see Tails and another fox come in and then leave with an extra person, who was wearing so much clothing he couldn't see their face," said Sally quietly.

"What about the tapes?" asked Knuckles.

"The _footage_, not tapes, was erased," replied Sally briskly. "Tails is good with computers. It's starting to look more and more like him."

"Based on what?" asked Knuckles challengingly. "Nack's word and some erased footage?"

"The doorman said Tails was here," said Sally.

"Okay, well, let's just go to Tails' place and see what we find there, okay?" suggested Knuckles. Sally nodded and took the car's phone out of the wall next to her, calling the driver to tell him where to go.

* * *

><p>Sonic woke up with a splitting headache and no idea where he was. He looked around and found that he was in a dark room, the only source of light coming from a dim light bulb that was in the ceiling above him. He saw that the walls around him consisted only of prison bars. Sonic changed his mind about where he was. He wasn't in a room, he was in a cage.<p>

"Hello, Sonic," a malicious voice echoed through the room around him from the shadows.

"Who's there?" asked Sonic quietly as he looked around for the person who had spoken.

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to guess that," said the voice evilly. "I mean, you remember Fi in the forest, right? Just think about who's most likely to come with her." Sonic narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"Scourge," he growled.

"The one and only," replied the voice in an evilly suave tone. Sonic watched as the green hedgehog stepped into the dim light. He was giving Sonic a cocky smirk as he approached the bars of the cage. "Ya like your room? I prepared it especially for you. Tested the bars myself. If I couldn't spin-dash my way through, then I know you can't."

"Why am I in here?" asked Sonic sternly. "I know I'm not a person you'd be very keen to keep as a prisoner."

"I need you," replied Scourge shortly.

"For?" asked Sonic.

"Well, let's just say I have a new business partner," answered Scourge. "A business partner who has a very particular interest in you. He wants you alive."

"Why does he want me?" asked Sonic.

"The hell if I know," said Scourge with a shrug. "I told him we'd both be better off with you dead, but he disagreed. Vehemently."

"Who is he?" asked Sonic quietly.

"He's my business partner," repeated Scourge. "Well, he's the 'senior' partner and I'm the 'junior' partner. He has this thing about rank. He always has to be on top. Real megalomaniac."

"Well, you can talk," remarked Sonic dryly. "So, what, you have a boss now?"

"_Partner_," corrected Scourge. "And normally I'd be a little more reluctant to do what he says, like keeping you alive, but he promised me _a lot_ in exchange for you in a cage. Oh, look! That's what I have right here."

"What's he promising you?" asked Sonic.

"Enough to leave me feeling very content with passing up the perfect opportunity to kill you to let him do what he wants with you," replied Scourge nonchalantly.

"_You_ can be content?" remarked Sonic amusedly. "What could possibly be enough to slake _Scourge the Hedgehog's_ thirst for power?"

"The price to do so is high," said Scourge with a smirk. "But it exists. And my new partner found it."

"Hmm," hummed Sonic thoughtfully. "So, you're just someone's gofer?"

"I'm someone's very _overpaid_ gofer," retorted Scourge.

"Overpaid by who?" asked Sonic challengingly, walking slowly to the bars. "Some faceless dude who's obviously more powerful than you?"

"Well, while being more powerful than me, yes, he's not faceless to me," explained Scourge, indifferent to Sonic's challenging tone. "See, I have met him before and I know I'll get paid." Sonic smirked smartly at him. "Let's just say that I have with him a very _binding_ contract."

"Oh, a _contract_," said Sonic amusedly. "Because those are so reliable among people like you. You really expect him to honor whatever agreement you guys made?" Scourge smirked again.

"Hey, why don't you worry about your own problems, Sonic," replied Scourge calmly. "In case you didn't notice, I have you _in a cage_." Sonic returned the smirk.

"When do I get to meet el jefe?" asked Sonic curiously.

"He'll be here to see you in a few hours," said Scourge.

"Cool," said Sonic. "I can't wait to meet your new _boss_."

"Partner," Scourge repeated the correction somewhat frustratedly. He turned to leave. "If that'll be all-"

"One more question," Sonic cut him off sternly. Scourge turned back to look at Sonic. "What did you do with Brad and Tails?" Scourge smiled evilly as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Well, I killed them," he replied promptly. Sonic raised his eyebrows slightly out of shock. Then he narrowed his eyes at Scourge angrily.

"I don't believe you," he growled. "You're lying."

"Why would I lie about that, Sonic?" Scourge asked challengingly. "Think about it. If I were lying, that would mean I've got the little brat locked up somewhere else and that I've gotta put on a good poker face for you. Now, what would be easier? Keeping the freak alive and lying about it to you or killing him and watching your response to the fact that I'm telling the truth?" Scourge smirked evilly as he started to turn away again, but was stopped once more by Sonic, who had tried to launch himself through the bars to tackle Scourge, only to have the bars stop him. Scourge watched as Sonic continued to try to reach at him through the bars, but to no avail.

"You bastard!" he shouted angrily, his face contorted with rage. "I'm gonna kill you!" Scourge let out a small chuckle as he made to turn away again, this time unstopped, and leave his prisoner alone. Sonic continued to shout angrily at his captor as the green hedgehog disappeared into the shadows. He was momentarily blinded with light as Scourge opened the door and left. The blinding light disappeared with the loud slam of the door that echoed through the room, leaving Sonic to continue to shout angrily at the darkness.

* * *

><p>Cassie shut the door of Tails' apartment behind her. She left the blue, leather jacket she was wearing on the coat hook by the door. She walked into the kitchen and took a soda out of the fridge. Then she made her way to the living room where she plopped herself down into the recliner chair, turned on the TV, and took a sip of her soda. She had just gotten totally relaxed in her seat when the silence of the apartment, save the soft noise from the TV, was broken by the sound of a loud knock at the front door.<p>

Cassie sighed annoyedly as she got up from the chair to answer the door. She opened it to find two people waiting outside. The first was a brown-furred squirrel that was about as tall as Cassie. She was wearing a sky blue, leather vest and combat boots of the same color to match. The second was a red-furred echidna that stood a bit taller than the squirrel. He was wearing a brown, sleeveless jacket and a brown, cowboy hat, along with a pair of white gloves that had sharp spikes protruding from the knuckles.

"Hello, Your Highness," greeted Cassie casually, but slightly politely. She looked up at Knuckles. "And the guardian-dude person. Knuckles, right?" Knuckles nodded with a somewhat annoyed expression. "So, how can I help you two?"

"We're looking for Miles," said Knuckles abruptly. "He here?"

"No, he's out working," replied Cassie. "You two wanna come in, though?" She opened the door further and gestured inside. The two entered the apartment silently and Cassie shut the door. She led them into the living room, where they each took a seat on the couch. "So, you two are friends of his, right? Is there any particular reason you two decided to pay a visit?"

"Yeah, we need to talk to him," answered Sally. "Um, sorry, but who are you?"

"Name's Cassie King," said the vixen. "You two want something to drink? Beer? Soda? Water?"

"I'll have a soda," answered Knuckles plainly.

"Same here," said Sally.

"Coming right up," said Cassie as she turned and walked into the kitchen. She came out a minute later and handed them each a can of soda before she returned to her place in the recliner.

"So, are you Tails' girlfriend?" asked Knuckles.

"No, I'm not, I'm just a friend and a colleague," replied Cassie. "Sorta."

"Sorta?" asked Sally as she took a sip of her soda. "How are you sorta colleagues?"

"Well, my real job is a waitress job at my father's diner, downtown," explained Cassie. "But I also work as a researcher and a snitch for some local bounty hunters, two of which are Miles and his friend, Brad, who work together as a team."

"Tails is a bounty hunter?" asked Knuckles in slight surprise.

"Yeah, you didn't know that?" Sally asked him. "He got into bounty hunting after he quit the Freedom Fighters."

"Yeah, and he's pretty good," said Cassie. "So, what is it you wanted to talk to him about?"

"We wanted to ask him if he knew anything about where our friend, Sonic the Hedgehog, is," explained Sally casually.

"Oh, that," said Cassie in realization. "Last I heard, they were all going after the people who put a price on Sonic's head."

"They were what?" asked Sally in surprise.

"Tails found out about the bounty on Sonic and brought him here," replied Cassie. "I tracked the phone number for whoever did it and gave them the coordinates for the signal. They all went to investigate it."

"Wait, what?" asked Knuckles.

"Hold on, you didn't know?" Cassie asked Sally. Sally shook her head. Cassie groaned in annoyance. "Why am I not surprised? I mean, that sounds exactly like Brad; don't tell the guy's _fiancé_. But it doesn't sound like Miles."

"Hold on," said Sally quickly. "Okay, start from the beginning, here. So far, all we know is that someone put a price on Sonic's head."

"Alright, here's how it went," started Cassie. "Miles and Brad brought in a collar to Mammoth Mogul. Mogul told them about a price someone had put on Sonic's head. So Miles hired me to try and figure out who did it. Meanwhile, he and Brad went to go get Sonic. I know something happened with Nack the Weasel while they were there, but I don't know the details. Anyway, I traced the phone number that Mogul had given them to contact the person who put out the hit. The signal came from somewhere in the forest. I told Miles about it and they all left to go investigate it."

"How long ago was that?" asked Sally quickly.

"A couple hours ago, maybe," said Cassie. Sally stood up from the couch and walked towards the hallway to the door, motioning for Knuckles to follow.

"C'mon, Knuckles, we're gonna go help them," she said determinedly.

"Wait, princess," said Cassie quickly, stopping them in their tracks. "Shouldn't we, like, call someone? Is it a good idea for you two to go alone?" Sally smirked smartly at her, exchanging a quick, knowing look with Knuckles as she did.

"I think we can handle ourselves," she said smartly. "Remember our jobs? We can handle things fine on our own."

"Well, screw that," said Cassie as she stood up. "They're my friends, too. I'm coming. Just hold on, lemme get something real quick." She walked into the kitchen and opened a drawer, taking a small pistol out.

"Whoa, no," said Sally firmly. "No guns."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" asked Cassie as she cocked the gun and slipped it into the back of her pants. "Look, I don't have any self-defense training or special skills like you guys, but one thing I can do is hit what I'm shooting at." Sally watched her thoughtfully for a moment before responding.

"Oh, alright, fine," she groaned reluctantly. "Just don't shoot unless you have to." Cassie nodded quickly and followed the two out the door, grabbing her jacket as she left.

* * *

><p>Tails sighed as he thought over how to escape from the cell Fiona and Scourge had locked him in. If he could get a gun, he could definitely get himself out, but he needed to get two other people out with him and he didn't even know what kind of condition they were in. He had thought about just shooting Fiona and Scourge, and maybe Miles if he became a problem, but he knew he needed them alive. Someone else was calling the shots here and those two were the only two who had the answers as to who it was. And who knew if the big, bad master was here or not. He could pose an extra threat on top of the two psychos he knew he would have to deal with. Tails knew there were too many variables here to lay a solid escape plan out, which he was fine with. He knew he could effectively wing it if he had to, but that still operated on the assumption that at least Sonic was in an able-bodied condition. There was no way he'd be able to formulate plans on the fly if he was working on his own while he was dragging two people with him. Even if he was dragging Sonic, he didn't think he and Brad could pull it off together. No, he needed someone else to help him. Then he had a new idea.<p>

He looked up from the laid-down position he was in at Miles on the other side of the dividing bars. Miles was playing a game of Solitaire on the computer he had on the desk.

"So, why don't you just use that computer to hack the security system, pop the locks on the doors, shut the lights off, and get away?" asked Tails casually.

"Outside access of any kind is controlled and monitored by the wardens," replied Miles without turning to face his cellmate, instead remaining focused on his game. "Right now, this can only serve to entertain me until they either decide they need to use me or that I've outlived my usefulness."

"So, you don't expect them to let you survive this?" asked Tails curiously.

"No, I don't," replied Miles inattentively, still not turning away from the screen of the computer.

"You seem awfully calm about that," remarked Tails. "Almost kind of cooperative."

"Well, like I told you, killing you is one of the nicer things in Scourge's arsenal," said Miles quietly. "On top of that, I've had a lot of time alone in here, giving me a lot of time to come to terms with and accept the inevitable fact that I am currently living out my last little bit of time in this life."

"So, you haven't tried to escape?" asked Tails.

"I just said, it's not like if I fail, I die," said Miles plainly. "If I get caught, which I probably will, Scourge will _torture_ me. That's not an experience I feel like going through again. I'd rather just ride this last wave out and let him end it with a bullet to the back of my head."

"What if he decides to just keep you after all this is done with as a slave or something?" asked Tails.

"I'm sorta banking on the hope that you're gonna take that place and that that's why he's keeping you alive," replied Miles with a shrug. "Is this going somewhere?"

"Can they see us in here?" Tails asked curiously. Miles decided that he would turn around to face the other fox now.

"No, they're so sure that escape's impossible that they didn't put any monitoring in here," answered Miles slowly. "Why?"

"Let's prove them wrong," said Tails, sitting up and giving Miles a mischievous look. "Help me escape. That way, we can both get outta here and not die, or worse."

"Did you not just hear me?" asked Miles. "It's not possible."

"Why not?" asked Tails challengingly.

"Look, you don't know where we are," said Miles quietly. "We are in a decently protected prison cell, guarded by at least two insane wardens, in a small military-grade bunker that is buried twenty feet underground, the only connections to the outside world being an exit teleport in the bunker's control room and a large number of golf-ball sized air vents that lead to the surface that pipe in fresh air for everyone down here."

"So, all we have to do is get to the exit teleport," said Tails simply. Miles groaned in annoyance and put his face in his hands, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "Look, we've both conceded to the fact that one Miles Prower isn't going to get out successfully, but what if _two_ have a go at it?" Miles' ears perked up slightly at the mention of this. "Okay, if we can work together, we might actually be able to formulate a successful escape plan."

"Okay, fine, say we do escape successfully," said Miles tiredly. "What's in it for me? The minute we get outta the reach of our captors, you're probably gonna turn me in to the authorities. So, that means that I either spend the rest of my life in a high-security Acorn dungeon or in Zone-Jail. And if I do manage to get away, then what? I've got nothing and no one out there. I've got nowhere to go for help of any kind."

"Okay, I'll make you a deal, then," said Tails quietly. "I'll make sure that, when we get outta here, you don't get turned into the authorities by anyone and I'll help you out while you need it. I'll give you some money, or a place to stay, or whatever you need to get started with something out there." Miles nodded silently. "But you have to do something for me, first."

"Oh, great," groaned Miles.

"Okay, I'll help you if you help me get Brad and Sonic out with us," said Tails.

"No way," said Miles flatly. "No, there's no way we can make a good plan that involves potentially dragging two unconscious prisoners behind us. Who knows what shape those two are in right now. The only thing we can assume is that neither of them is fit enough to make their own way out. We can't try to break them out and get away close to clean."

"C'mon, we have to try," pleaded Tails. "We _can_ do it. Come on. Let's at least try and make a plan with that possibility, okay?" Miles watched Tails silently as he thought his Mobian counterpart's deal over.

"Okay," he finally sighed. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but if you swear you'll help me out outside of this place, I'll help you break your friends out."

"Nice," said Tails somewhat excitedly.

"Alright, so, how do we start this plan out?" asked Miles curiously.

"Well, I actually have a bit of a plan already," said Tails with a smart smile. So, he and Miles began discussing how they were going to break out of the prison that Scourge and Fiona had trapped them in.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so there it is! You like it? Getting kinda exciting, huh? Okay, so, here's my plan for the next couple chapters. I'm gonna finish up the whole Scourgebig, mysterious boss-dude storyline, for now, in the next chapter and then I'm gonna focus a chapter or two on Tails' life as a bounty hunter before getting back into the main plot again, so you can maybe look forward to that. I'm kinda getting excited about writing it. Haha! So, like I said, it'll be a while before the next update, but it will most likely happen before Christmas. So, until then, review, favorite, alert, tell friends, and always make sure that there's a hobo sleeping in the backseat of your car before you leave for school/work. Seeya!  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: The fifth chappie is here! Told you I'd get it updated by Christmas. Anyway, that's all. Read and enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Okay, let's go over this one more time," said Tails quietly. "Fiona comes in to feed us and I knock her out with this." Tails held up a syringe filled with clear liquid. He always kept a fresh, knock-out drug in a hollow spot in the sole of his shoe.<p>

"You take the keys, spring me from my cell, and give them to me so I can go get your friend," chimed in Miles.

"I'll hold off Scourge until you two can come and help me take him down," continued Tails. "After we take him down, I'll see if I can find the special key to whatever miracle cage Sonic's locked in."

"Then we get to the main control room and I'll teleport us all out of here," finished Miles. Tails nodded and smiled slightly. Miles sighed and leaned back in his chair. "It's not a perfect plan. What if Scourge's big, scary keeper is here to jump in?"

"We'll play it by ear," replied Tails dismissively. "I think we can handle that. If we can get Sonic out, then we'll be fine."

"I like that, 'if'," remarked Miles dryly.

"Look, he hasn't broken out yet and I don't know why," explained Tails with a quiet sigh. "That leads me to assume that he can't, which means that Scourge, or his keeper, whoever that is, has a containment unit of some sort that can hold him in. I don't know exactly what that would be. It could be some kind of force field controlled by an encrypted computer. It could be some kind of restrictive binding. For all I know, it could be a really, really strong cage. All I'm saying is I'm not entirely prepared for a quick break-out because I don't know what I'm breaking."

"Fine, then I might have better luck than you," said Miles pointedly. "I am better with the breaking-into-things area. So, why don't we both go to free your friend? Then you two can fend off Scourge while I go free Sonic. That way, you guys can act as a distraction in the case that big, bad boss comes into the fray instead of all of us going down if he does." Tails thought silently for a few moments before he nodded slowly at Miles.

"Okay, let's do that," he said quietly. "So, now all we have to do is wait." Miles nodded silently.

* * *

><p>Fiona unlocked the door to Tails' side of the cell and stepped inside, carrying a tray of food that consisted of a couple sandwiches and apples for the two foxes. She walked in to find Tails looking up at her from his cross legged position on his bed. Miles was watching her from his desk chair on the other side of the bars.<p>

"Dinner time, boys," she announced in a mock-friendly tone. "Eat up." She placed the tray on the ground in front of Tails. "Be sure to share."

"Whatever, bitch," replied Tails plainly. She flashed him a contemptuous look before starting to turn back for the door. "Hey, wait." She turned around slightly to face him. "Where are you two holding Sonic?"

"In a nice, inescapable prison cell," she replied smartly. "So, don't get your hopes up for your little hero to break you outta here."

"Okay, that's fine," said Tails dismissively. Fiona smirked as she turned back to the door. She had just gotten her hand around the handle when she felt a burning pinch in her neck and she blacked out.

Tails took the needle out of Fiona's neck and let her fall to the ground. He bent down and picked the keys off her belt. He pulled the door open and peeked his head out, checking to make sure that Scourge wasn't outside. After making sure he was clear, he made his quick run to the door a couple yards down the hall and opened it up.

"Okay, now we need to find Brad," said Tails quietly as he stepped inside Miles' cell. Miles nodded quickly.

"Hold on, did she have a gun on her?" asked Miles.

"No, she didn't," replied Tails. "C'mon, let's go." Tails opened the door up and looked around outside. When he was sure they were clear, he led Miles out. They walked down the silent hallway quickly and quietly. A little ways down the hall, they came upon another door. There was a square window in the door. Tails peeked his eyes over the bottom of the window and saw a fox lying asleep on a bed inside. He gave Miles the thumbs-up and silently unlocked the door, opening it and entering silently. After he and Miles had shut the door as quietly as they could, Tails grabbed Brad by the shoulders and shook him awake.

"Brad," said Tails quietly.

"Huh? What?" asked a startled Brad as he woke up. He looked up at Tails and smiled happily. "Oh, thank God, Mi'. I was beginning to wonder when we were gonna bust outta here." Tails chuckled softly as he helped his friend up off the bed. Brad looked around and spotted Miles looking out the window of the door. "Holy shit! There are two of you!"

"Yeah, I'll explain later," said Tails quickly. "Miles, we clear?"

"Yeah, I think so," replied Miles as he opened the door quietly.

"His name is Miles, too?" asked Brad quietly. "Wow, that's gonna get confusing."

"Like I said," said Tails as he grabbed Brad by the arm and led him to the door behind Miles. "Later."

"Yeah, we're clear," said Miles. He turned around and looked at Tails. "Okay, I'll go bust Sonic out, you two go hold off Scourge until I can bring in the super speedy cavalry."

"Whoa, what?" asked Tails quietly, grabbing Miles' wrist to stop him from walking out the door. "You're not going alone."

"Why not?" asked Miles frustratedly.

"Because if I let you go, how do I know you're not gonna just zap yourself out and leave me in the lurch?" asked Tails quickly.

"Whoa, you'd do that to your own twin brother?" Brad asked Miles perplexedly. Miles gave him a hard glance before turning back to Tails.

"Okay, that guy is gonna drive me to punching him out," he said quickly. "If he makes another dumb-ass comment like that, I'll-"

"Anyway," interrupted Tails firmly.

"This will be easier if Scourge doesn't know I'm out, too," argued Miles. "He won't expect you to have busted me out, too. There's not really a way to take him down by ourselves. The quicker we bring Sonic to our aid, the quicker he goes down." Tails thought the argument over quickly.

"Okay, fine," he said quietly. "If you leave us behind, make no mistake, I will kill you."

"I think it's kinda funny how you think you could catch me," said Miles in a deadpan tone as he looked out the door again. "Okay, we're clear. I'll go back down the hallway, you keep advancing up it. Look for Scourge and keep him distracted."

"Fine," said Tails. Miles silently walked out the door and disappeared down the hallway. Tails led Brad out into the hallway. "Okay, keep quiet. Look for a green hedgehog that looks like Sonic. Tell me if you see him." Brad nodded silently.

"So, I didn't know you had a twin brother," whispered Brad. "Who, apparently, has the same name."

"He's not my twin brother," hissed Tails quickly. "He's me."

"What?" asked Brad confusedly.

"He's my counterpart from an alternate universe," replied Tails in a quick whisper. "He's from a different zone that's a polar opposite to our world."

"Oh, so, he's kinda like your bad side," whispered Brad.

"Yeah, let's go with that, for now," said Tails quietly. Tails saw that they were coming up to the end of the hallway and motioned for Brad to get against the wall of the hallway as they came to the corner of the hall. Brad met Tails at his side and stayed against the wall. Tails crouched down and looked around the corner. He saw Scourge walking towards the hall and backed back behind the corner. "Okay, Brad, there's a hedgehog around the corner. We both take him when he comes around. He's a bit of a heavy hitter, so be careful, okay? I can't take him alone and we're just a distraction, so don't make any risky moves to take him down." Brad nodded silently. They both waited for a few seconds in combat ready positions, preparing to ambush Scourge when he came around. Finally, they saw the green fur and the black leather and they jumped him as hard as they could, both yelling loud battle cries as they tackled the Moebian hedgehog.

* * *

><p>Miles quietly entered the room that served as Sonic's prison. It was dark and silent. The only sound the Moebian could hear was the soft sound of his footsteps and his breathing. The only source of light that he could see was a dim light in the middle of the room that was attached to the ceiling of a large, black prison cage. Directly under the light, Miles saw a still, blue form lying on the floor of the cage, loosely curled into a ball and trembling slightly.<p>

"Sonic?" called Miles quietly as he approached the bars of the cage. The blue form stirred slightly, but, essentially, didn't move. Miles decided to repeat his call. "Sonic." Suddenly, the hedgehog shot up from his curled up position and came to one of sitting up in alert. His head whipped around to meet the fox.

"Tails?" The name was whispered loudly with a hopeful tone to match the hopeful smile that was etched into the hedgehog's, face. Upon laying eyes on his visitor, the smile immediately degraded into a disappointed scowl. Miles saw that his eyes were slightly red and the fur under them was matted and tearstained.

"Oh," Sonic layered the one, disappointed word with pure disdain for the fox. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to free you," replied Miles plainly. Sonic scoffed disbelievingly.

"Yeah, right," he said, maintaining his disdainful tone.

"No, really," said Miles reassuringly. "I'm here to free you."

"Why would you free me?" asked Sonic challengingly. "You're on Scourge's side."

"No, not this time," said Miles quickly. "I'm his prisoner, now. Just as much as you. He needed my help, so he took me and tortured me into cooperation."

"So, then, why do you want to free me?" asked Sonic skeptically.

"Look, I want to get outta here," explained Miles. "But, to do that, I need Scourge out of the way. I can't do that by myself, so that makes you my ticket outta here."

"Okay," said Sonic quietly, still a little skeptically. "Where's Tails?"

"He's out there keeping Scourge busy so I can bust you out," replied Miles quickly. Immediately, Sonic perked up interestedly. The news that his best friend and little brother was actually still alive reenergized him completely.

"He's alive?" he asked happily. Miles nodded quickly.

"Yeah, but I don't know how long he can last against Scourge," he said. "Now, do you know how to open this thing? We need to get you out, like, now."

"I don't know," said Sonic with a shrug. "I was out cold when they put me in. I did a quick look around, but I can't find anything that looks like a door or any other kind of entrance. I can't spin dash out, either. The whole cage is pretty much unbreakable."

"Let me look up top," said Miles. He twisted his tails together and choppered up to the roof of the cage. "Aha!" Right in the middle of the roof, Miles saw a large, locking wheel in the center of the roof. He landed next to it and inspected it more closely. He could barely see the seam between the ceiling of the cage and the hatch attached to the locking wheel. "Found the door!"

"Where?" asked Sonic quickly.

"It's a hatch on the roof," replied Miles. "And it's pretty impressively hidden. If it didn't have a hatch wheel on it, I never would have found it."

"Well, then get to opening it!" called Sonic commandingly, and somewhat impatiently. Miles obeyed and began turning the wheel on the hatch.

* * *

><p>Tails landed on the floor with a hard THUD and a pained grunt. He got to his feet as fast as he could, looking ahead of him, to see Brad being thrown across the room by Scourge. He took his chance, making a full on rush at the green hedgehog. He lunged forward, bringing his fists back behind his head, preparing to slam his opponent. Then he was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a gloved fist burying itself in his stomach. He gagged slightly, gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of him by the force of the punch, and doubled over, crumpling to the floor.<p>

"What did you think you could do, ya little freak?" Scourge whispered maliciously as he grabbed Tails by the scruff of the neck and hoisted him up to his feet. Tails tried to stay standing, but immediately fell to his knees, still gasping for breath. "I mean, you know that Sonic himself couldn't take me on alone. Why would _you_ try to take me on with just your stupid, little friend for backup?" Tails looked up at Scourge. He was scowling down at the fox, who had finally succeeded at drawing a breath. Then the scowl flashed away, replaced by a maniacal smirk as Scourge reassumed his grip on the fox's neck and pulled him up by it. He grabbed Tails' chest with his other hand and did a full two hundred and seventy degree twist, heaving Tails across the room.

Tails hit the wall with a dull THUD and dropped to the ground. He groaned and rolled onto his back, slowly sitting himself up by propping himself against the wall. He was dizzy and disoriented from hitting his head on the wall and the floor. His vision was fading in and out and everything around him sounded distant. He thought he heard someone scream loudly. He looked up and saw Scourge standing over Brad, who was hunched over on all fours, wincing painfully. Then Scourge aimed a swift kick to his stomach, flipping him onto his back, where he laid there, unmoving.

Tails winced slightly out of pain and felt his vision fade out. After it came back a moment later, he looked up and saw Scourge standing over him, smiling viciously with an evil glint in his eye. He bent down and grabbed Tails by the front of his jacket, hoisting him up and pinning him against the wall, the jolt of which brought Tails out of his disoriented state, his vision and hearing coming back into focus.

"Now, you little brat," snarled Scourge malevolently. Tails saw him reach down at his belt for something with one hand, keeping him pinned to the wall with the other. He heard a soft, sharp click and saw the bright flash of a shiny blade popping out from inside the hedgehog's palm. "I'm gonna enjoy nailing your bloody body to the bars of Sonic's cage." He raised the knife up and put it next to Tails' throat. Tails closed his eyes and waited for the pain in his neck to come and for the feeling of his own blood soaking the front of his torso.

Suddenly, Tails heard a scream and felt himself fall to the floor. He heard the clattering sound of the knife hitting the ground beside him. He opened his eyes and looked up to see Scourge growling angrily, holding his wrist tightly, his hand now ungloved and rigid, trembling slightly. Tails could also see something on the hedgehog's hand. It was a circular, angry red mark that covered the entire center of his palm. He thought he could also make out something inside the circle. He thought it was a figure of some sort, like a letter or a symbol.

Then his attention was jerked away from the mark on Scourge's hand by the sudden appearance of a loud, zipping sound echoing from down the hallway to his left. It was growing increasingly louder by the second. Tails could feel a small grin appear on his face as he realized he recognized the sound. He'd grown up hearing it everywhere. There was a flash of blue fur and Scourge disappeared, another, blue-furred hedgehog now standing in his place. He had his gaze attentively locked on another subject, an angry scowl fixed on his face. His hands were tightly balled into fists and his eyes were cold and hard, filled with rage. Sonic was practically emanating pure anger.

Tails followed his locked gaze, coming to an unmoving, green heap on the floor on the other side of the room, next to a wall that now had a deep, hedgehog-sized dent in it. He watched as his friend marched slowly over to the unmoving Scourge. Sonic bent down and grasped the back of Scourge's leather jacket. He pulled the limp form off the ground slowly. The green hedgehog gave a soft groan of disorientation. Sonic pinned him to the indentation in the wall and slowly moved in at him, stopping when their noses were nearly touching. He narrowed his eyes coldly and spoke through gritted teeth, voice no louder, nor less malicious, than a vicious, rage-filled snarl.

"You keep your hands off him," he said, emphasizing every syllable and layering the command with pure hatred. Scourge didn't have time to react before Sonic pulled his fist back and launched it into Scourge's cheek. The green hedgehog went limp in Sonic's grasp as he slipped into unconsciousness. Sonic let go of the jacket and let him fall to the floor. "Tails, you alright?" Sonic turned to the fox behind him and looked him over from across the room. He was currently picking himself up off the floor. He looked alright, from what Sonic could see.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Tails briefly as he walked over to his hedgehog friend. They exchanged a quick, friendly fist-bump as Tails joined him at his side and looked down at Scourge. He bent down by the unconscious form and looked more closely, more specifically, at the ungloved hand of their enemy.

Tails couldn't see anything. Scourge's palm was completely normal. No marks or scars or burns of any kind, especially no glowing red symbols, or whatever it was he'd thought he'd seen.

"Okay, he's out, for now," chimed in a voice from the pair's left. The two looked and saw Miles approaching them casually from the other side of the room. "Now, let's get outta here before he wakes up."

"What's this 'let's' business about?" asked Sonic with a cocked eyebrow. "See, you're not in the 'let's' category, buddy. You may have gotten me out, but that doesn't mean we trust you all of the sudden. No, _you_ get to stay here with the Moebian Wonder Team."

"Fine," replied Miles smugly. "Good luck getting out without my help." He flashed Tails an expectant look. Sonic also gave Tails a sidelong gaze, cocking an eyebrow, this time, at the twin-tailed fox he knew. Tails sighed and returned Sonic's sidelong gaze.

"He's the only one who can get us out," explained Tails slowly.

"Why's that?" Sonic shot sharply at Miles.

"We're currently trapped in a small bunker buried twenty feet underground," answered Miles shortly. "The only way out is a teleport in the control room. Do either of you know how to operate it?" He raised his eyebrows at the pair in mock-expectation. "No?" His expression immediately reverted back to one of annoying smugness. "Hmm. I guess it's just me."

"Fine," groaned Sonic annoyedly. "But mark my words, Miles. When we get out, you're going straight to lock-up."

"Whatever you say," replied Miles, tone still as smug as ever. Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance, turning to look at Tails again.

"Tails, get Brad back on his feet," he ordered shortly. "Miles, lead us to the exit."

* * *

><p>Cassie, Sally, and Knuckles had been hiking through the Great Forest for about twenty minutes. The forest had grown darker as the sun had begun to sink as night approached the Kingdom of Acorn. The hike through the forest had been dead silent, so far, save for Cassie giving directions in the car and in the forest and the occasional question from Sally regarding the current situation.<p>

"How much farther?" Knuckles, who hadn't said a single word since they'd left, decided that he had been patient enough with this 'vacation' that Sally had dragged him into. He shouldn't be hiking through the forest right now, he should be at the castle for his meeting with King Elias. He wanted to get this all over with. Or at least find some shred of evidence that they weren't wasting their time.

"Not much!" Cassie called back as she glanced at the map on her cell phone screen. She looked back at the trail in front of her and noticed something poking out of a pile of fallen leaves next to a tree trunk a couple yards in front of her. It looked like a piece of dull, chrome metal. She jogged ahead to it and picked it out of the pile of leaves. Following was the rest of a dirty, medium-sized, chrome pistol that she recognized in an instant.

"Hey, I said no unnecessary gunplay," Cassie turned to find Sally standing behind her, wearing a scolding expression. Knuckles was standing right at her shoulder, looking as annoyed as ever.

"But this isn't my gun," replied Cassie with a smile. "It's Brad's gun. You know what that means?" Sally cocked a thoughtful eyebrow at Cassie.

"They were here?" she asked as she slowly took the gun out of Cassie's grip and examined it for herself. "But, why is it here? Why'd it get left behind...?" Her voice trailed off as she thought about her own question. Then she lowered her voice to a worried whisper. "It means they've been captured." She started to wring the barrel of the firearm in her hand nervously as she ran the idea through her head.

"Now, Sally, calm down," said Knuckles quietly, changing from annoyed to comfortingly reassuring in a heartbeat. "We don't know that they were captured."

"Yeah, this is _Brad's_ gun, Sally," said Cassie reassuringly. "He's not exactly the responsible type. Losing his gun sounds just like him. I'd even bet money that we find his cell phone a couple yards up the trail." Cassie was lying through her teeth, of course. She knew that, as irresponsible as he was, there were a couple things that Brad made sure he never lost, especially on a job. His cell phone, his gun, and, because of his recent, alcohol-related incident, his wallet.

"See?" said Knuckles quietly. "And even if they were captured by whoever it is they were looking for, this is _Sonic_ we're talking about. They'll be fine." Sally stopped and thought over what Knuckles had said for a moment.

"Right," she said quietly, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "There's no use getting worked up. That won't help at all." She walked over to Cassie and deposited the gun back into her hand. "We need to find them, Cassie."

"Then follow me," replied Cassie with a grin as she turned and gestured them to follow her, walking back into the trees around them. They followed closely behind her for a few more minutes before coming out into a large, open clearing. There was nothing but a field of grass for about a hundred yards, stopping at another wall of trees. But none of them could see anything that looked like it would broadcast a phone signal.

"Oh, great, we found nothing," remarked Knuckles sarcastically. "This is where you said you traced the signal, right?"

"Yes, it is," replied Cassie as she examined her phone screen again. "We're right on top of it!"

"Then where is it?" asked Knuckles impatiently.

"I don't know!" said Cassie confusedly. "All I know is this is where I traced the sig-" She was interrupted by a bright flash of light and a loud, sharp zapping noise. They all looked at the source of the light and noise and saw four figures standing in the very middle of the clearing.

"Sonic?"

"Sally?"

"Miles? Brad?"

"Cassie?"

"Cassie?"

"Knuckles?"

"Sonic!" Sally ran to the hedgehog and threw her arms around him in a hug, which he returned. Then, as quickly as she had grabbed him, she pulled away and started hitting Sonic in the shoulder frustratedly. "You! (hit) Should have! (hit) Called! (hit) Me!"

"I know, Sal," laughed Sonic happily as he stopped her from hitting him and embraced her again. "I should have told you about all this. I just sorta got caught up in the moment."

"Yeah, I could say the same to you two," said Cassie as she approached Tails and Brad. Tails had Brad hanging onto his shoulder as he was still having trouble standing upright because of the damage Scourge had done. "I mean, seriously, I'd expect that kinda thing from Brad, but I thought you would have thought to at least call someone, Miles." She stopped in front of the two and held out the chrome pistol she had found. "You dropped this, Brad."

"Oh, thanks, Cass," replied Brad gratefully as he took the pistol out of her hand.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," said Tails with a guilty chuckle. "I wasn't really thinking."

"So, who was it?" asked Cassie curiously. "Who put the hit out on Sonic?"

"It was Scourge," answered Sonic. "He said that he knew someone who wanted me or something. Wanted to use me. Said someone hired him."

"Who was that?" asked Sally concernedly.

"Never found out," answered Sonic with a shrug. "But I do know that we have Scourge and Fiona knocked out in a bunker twenty feet underground, right beneath us."

"That's where they kept you?" asked Cassie in surprise. "What's down there?"

"It's a military bunker," chimed in the voice of a speaker that no one had noticed yet. Everyone looked to the source of the voice and, save Sonic, Tails, and Brad, gasped at seeing who had spoken.

"Oh, my God, there are two of you!" exclaimed Cassie out of shock.

"Miles!" gasped Sally.

"Hello, Princess," greeted Miles smugly, bowing mockingly to the squirrel. "It's been so long. How are you doing? Oh, congrats on the engagement, by the way. We've all been wondering when that was gonna happen." Sally's shocked expression immediately changed to one of annoyance at the Moebian's greeting.

"Tails, if you would be so kind as to restrain him," she said casually, gesturing to the fox's evil counterpart.

"Actually, Sal, I'll do that," cut in Sonic with a smile as he walked over to Miles. "Like I said before, Miles. Straight to lock-up."

"Sorry, Sonic, I need you here," Sally interrupted him. "You said this place was underground? I'm gonna call in a digging team, but you and Knuckles should probably start off the digging now." She looked over her shoulder at Knuckles, who gave an approving nod. "Tails, do you think you can escort our prisoner to jail for us?"

"Sorry, Sal, I really think I should get Brad, here, lying down for a rest," replied Tails, gesturing slightly to the fox draped over his shoulder. "Don't worry, I can hold him at my place until you can send someone to pick him up." Sally watched them as she thought it over.

"That's fine, Tails," she said finally. "He won't escape?"

"Sally, I'm hurt," answered Tails sarcastically, giving her a mock-hurt look. Then he immediately went back to grinning happily at her. "Don't worry, no way I'm letting him go anywhere."

"Okay, go ahead," said Sally kindly. "I'll send Sonic by later." Tails nodded and turned to Cassie, who was still switching her gaze between Tails and Miles interestedly.

"Are you two, like, brothers, or something?" she asked, earning a quiet snigger from Tails and an annoyed glare from Miles.

"I'll explain at the apartment," answered Tails, still chuckling. "In the meantime, would you mind escorting our friend, here, to the car, with me and Brad?" Cassie smiled happily as she took the pistol out of the back of her pants and grabbed Miles by the shoulder, sticking the barrel of the gun into his ribcage.

"So, Tails, who's this sweet girl you've got, here?" Miles asked slyly, directing the question more towards Cassie herself than Tails.

"Name's Cassie," replied Cassie sharply, taking the opportunity to dig the barrel of her pistol harder into her charge's ribs, causing him to wince slightly. "Stop talking now." Miles chuckled slightly, but decided to shut up for now as she led him behind Tails and Brad, who was still supporting himself on Tails' shoulder, as they went back into the trees that surrounded the clearing.

* * *

><p>Scourge was awoken by the feeling of the tip of someone's foot burying itself into his stomach. He sat bolt upright and gasped for the breath that had been forced out of his lungs by the foot.<p>

"Get up," Scourge heard a deep voice beside him command. The voice was quiet and calm, but somehow still filled with anger and rage. Scourge looked to where the voice was and found a pair of legs standing next to him. He ran his gaze up the legs and it fell upon the face of a tall, dark skinned man that was standing over him. The man was old looking, but not feebly so. His eyes were dark, his irises and pupils blending together in the same color of black to make one, large, black circle in the middle of the whites of his eyes. Those eyes were cold and empty, devoid of emotion. The man's face was wrinkled and his head was totally bald. He had three, strange runic symbols tattooed on his forehead and had a symbol on the back of each of his hands to match them. He was wearing a dark black suit and he was carrying a black cane that was topped with a jet black jewel of some sort.

Scourge groaned out of pain as he stood up. Sonic had hit him _hard_.

"You've failed me, Scourge," the man said quietly in a gruff voice. "I like you. You're ambitious and powerful; more than a match for that blue counterpart of yours. But you can't poke the bear the way you did and expect to come out clean. Next time, don't _try_ to piss off your prisoners for the sake of a little, sadistic fun." He looked down at Scourge, who only responded with a silent, angry scowl. "I need that hedgehog, Scourge. He's imperative to the success of my plan."

"Why'd you stop me?" burst out Scourge angrily. The man made no indication of intending to answer the hedgehog's question. "I had that little brat in my grasp. I had the knife to his throat! I could have killed him, but you had to use your little hand-burning trick. Why'd you stop me killing him?"

"Because I want him alive," answered the man, still using his calm-but-angry voice. "There are others out there that I can use, Scourge. You and Sonic aren't the only ones."

"Okay, but why that little twerp?" asked Scourge angrily. "He's got nothing! He's useless!"

"My reasons are my business, Scourge," replied the man slowly. "I had to stop you because I need him. You don't need to know why. I've told you everything you need to know."

"You've barely told me anything!" argued Scourge.

"I have told you my overall goal for my plans and I've told you what you need to do," replied the man. "Now, your mission has changed. I want all _three_ of them back in cages. Soon. It's not just Sonic anymore."

"Three?" asked Scourge with a cocked eyebrow.

"I need to use all four of you to achieve my goals," explained the man. "You, Sonic, and the Prower counterparts. All four. I've told you your mission, I've told you the reward that awaits you when you succeed. So, _succeed_. If you fail me again, Scourge, I will have to do things my way. You don't want me to do things my way. My way isn't a happy way for you, Scourge." Scourge opened his mouth to argue back, but was interrupted by the sound of an explosion resounding from the control room down the hallway. "Come. They've breached the bunker. We must leave."

"What about Fiona?" asked Scourge.

"No time," replied the man shortly. "We must leave now." He raised his cane and tapped it sharply on the ground. Immediately, a thick cloud of black smoke rose out of the ground and enveloped the hedgehog and the man. Then, as immediately as it had come, it receded into the ceiling and revealed a now-empty space where the two had been previously standing.

* * *

><p>"Tails," Tails stirred slightly at the mention of his name. "Tails, wake up." The fox cracked an eyelid open to see who was trying to wake him. His vision was blurry after just waking up, but he could faintly see a blue-furred figure standing over him. He stretched his arms out and yawned loudly, relaxed himself back into the recliner he had fallen asleep in, and rubbed his eyes with his fists to wake them up. He opened them and saw, much more clearly now, Sonic sitting on the armrest of the chair, looking down at him with a happy grin.<p>

"Sonic," groaned Tails tiredly as he sat himself up in the chair. "So, how was it digging up the bunker?"

"Well, we blasted our way in when we got to it," replied Sonic. "But when we went in, Scourge was gone."

"Ah," remarked Tails in a disheartened tone.

"But we did get Fiona," continued Sonic with a smile. "She's in custody now, raving about all the stuff she's gonna do to Scourge for leaving her behind." Tails gave a small chuckle at this. "So, Knuckles, Sally, and Shadow have all gotten together to put together a giant manhunt for Scourge."

"Do we know who's calling the shots for Scourge yet?" asked Tails as he got up from the chair and headed for the kitchen. Sonic followed after him closely.

"No, actually," replied Sonic. "When we got there, every computer had been wiped clean, so no help from them. The only person we'd recovered in the whole place was Fiona." Tails nodded and gave another tired yawn as he approached the refrigerator. "You seem pretty wiped."

"Well, that's because I've been running on two hours of sleep all day," replied Tails dryly. "I still don't know how I managed to stay alert and awake in that cell."

"Well, it's all fine now," said Sonic happily as he sat down at the small kitchen table. "You can sleep like a baby tonight."

"You want something?" asked Tails as he opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer. Sonic shook his head.

"Nah, I'm good," he said nonchalantly. "I just came by to give you an update and pick up your evil twin." Tails nodded understandingly as he took a sip of his beer.

"I got him locked in my room," said Tails as he sat down across from Sonic. "Dropped out as soon as he hit the bed."

"You let him sleep in your bed?" asked Sonic with a cocked eyebrow.

"Not _my_ bed," said Tails, shaking his head. "I transformed my closet into a makeshift cell for holding targets until I can drop them off. It's got a small cot in it."

"Then why does Brad sleep on the couch?" asked Sonic confusedly. "And where is he, by the way?"

"He's the one in my bed, right now," said Tails. "Scourge gave him a serious beating. He needed something a bit more comfortable than the couch. And he sleeps there because the couch is a _lot_ more comfortable than the cot." Sonic nodded understandingly.

"Okay, then," he said. "So, how about you go get the prisoner and I can put him behind bars?"

"Alright," said Tails with a chuckle as he took another sip of beer. "I still can't believe he believed me about that deal we made."

"What deal?" asked Sonic confusedly, looking up at the fox opposite him.

"Well, I knew I couldn't break myself and you and Brad out of that prison alone, so I asked Miles for help," explained Tails. "The only way he would help me was if I promised him that he wouldn't go to prison after we escaped."

"Oh, Tails, you didn't," said Sonic despairingly. Tails looked up to see that his face had completely fallen.

"Why? What's wrong?" asked Tails confusedly as he put the bottle in his hand down on the table.

"Okay, Tails, you weren't supposed to be in there with me," answered Sonic. "You're not a Freedom Fighter anymore, you're a civilian. I could have gotten in a lot of trouble if it had been found out that I had brought you in there with me."

"So?" asked Tails, confused as to how this had anything to do with his fake deal with Miles.

"So, me and Sal decided to go with a story that said I was working on this as a solo mission and decided to hire you as a Freedom Fighter consultant," replied Sonic quickly. "That way, no one would get into any trouble."

"Okay, I'm still not getting what this has to do with me lying to Miles," said Tails.

"You were a Freedom Fighter affiliate," explained Sonic. "And since Miles wasn't an enemy, but a prisoner, that deal you made with him constitutes a verbal contract between the Freedom Fighters and him. If we send him to jail, he's going to go to trial. If he brings that up, it could get us in a deep mess of trouble."

"Okay, okay, okay, I get it," said Tails quickly. "We can't send him to jail _here_. Why not just hand him over to the Zone Cops?"

"Well, um..." said Sonic, shifting uncomfortably. "The Zone Jail was sorta trashed up a couple weeks ago. There was a prison riot and the jail was put outta commission for a bit. We'd have to hold him here. Then we'd have to try him here to get him sentenced to Zone Jail, which, like I just said, we can't do."

"Seriously?" asked Tails. "Zone Jail gets trashed a couple weeks before our anti-verse counterparts rear their ugly heads _here_? Please tell me you have someone looking into that now."

"Sally does," replied Sonic with a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temple with his hand.

"So, why don't we just throw him through a portal back to his zone?" suggested Tails. "Then we'd never see him again and no one would be the wiser."

"Yeah, but we don't have any way of opening a portal into his zone," said Sonic.

"What? Why not?" asked Tails frustratedly.

"Because the Acorn Council ordered that any and all means of inter-zonal transport be eradicated last year," groaned Sonic. "They said that, since Robotnik is dead and no one else has made any attack on the Kingdom, now was a time of rebuilding, not exploration. So they wanted to close off every possible way in or out of the zone for a while."

"What about the chaos emeralds?" asked Tails thoughtfully.

"All locked up in the shrine on Angel Island," said Sonic dryly. "To use them, we'd need to make an official request, meaning revealing our intentions and motives, which would lead to an inquiry of some sort about why we want to send Miles into another zone, which would be attracting way too much attention to the subject if we wanna keep this under wraps." Tails sighed frustratedly and leaned back in his chair, taking a large swig of his drink. "The same thing would happen if we requested to rebuild the Star Posts."

"So, let me get this straight," said Tails. "We can't send him to jail, we can't send him to Zone Jail, and we can't send him back to his zone." He looked up at Sonic, who nodded slightly. "So, what do we do?"

"I have no idea," said Sonic defeatedly, laying his head down on the table. "Why'd you have to go and make that deal?"

"Well, it was either that, or do nothing," retorted Tails plainly.

"Okay, look," said Sonic, looking back up at Tails. "For now, let's not do anything. You let him believe you kept your end of the deal. Let him stay here for a couple days. I'll tell Sally about this and we'll see if she can come up with something. Sound good?"

"That sounds fine," said Tails slowly. He wasn't entirely comfortable with letting Miles stay in his house. Sonic nodded and got up from the table. "Hey, Sonic." Sonic turned to look at Tails. "When did you become a legal expert?"

"Oh, Sally made me take a course in law," replied Sonic with a shrug. "See, the plan is that I would eventually take the throne from Elias one day, so she thought I should know about the law of the land."

"Oh," Tails nodded thoughtfully. "Okay."

"Oh, and Tails?" said Sonic. "One more thing. Since you were the one who made the deal, you're legally responsible for Miles. You need to keep him out of trouble."

"Right," groaned Tails dryly.

"Well, I'll call you later, tell you what Sally says," said Sonic, waving a farewell to the fox.

"Seeya," replied Tails quietly. Sonic left the room and Tails heard the front door down the hallway open and shut.

"So, was that Sonic?" Brad appeared from around the corner of the doorway. Tails nodded silently, taking a sip from his drink. Brad walked to the fridge and opened it, taking a beer out for himself. "What'd he have to say?"

"Scourge got away," said Tails plainly. "We got Fiona, though. But we also have no idea who Scourge's boss is." Brad took the seat that Sonic had been previously occupying and took a swig of his beer.

"So, what are they gonna do about Scourge?" he asked, yawning slightly.

"They're getting a manhunt together," replied Tails.

"Okay, then, I have one more question," said Brad quietly. "What are we gonna do about your evil counterpart we have locked in the back room?"

"For now, we're keeping him here," answered Tails. "We keep him here and out of trouble until we figure out something else to do with him."

"Why are we keeping him?" asked Brad with a cocked eyebrow.

"I'll explain later," replied Tails dismissively. "You feeling better? Scourge did a number on you."

"Yeah, just kinda achy, now," said Brad with a shrug. "I've got a couple bruises, too, but I'm fine."

"Okay, well, I'm gonna turn in for the night," said Tails quietly, getting up from the table. "You want the bed or the couch?"

"I'll move to the couch," replied Brad quietly. "I'm gonna stay up for a bit and you need the bed more than me. You were the one who got no sleep last night and you did spearhead the escape."

"Miles helped," said Tails pointedly.

"You're the same person," said Brad dismissively. Tails chuckled quietly as he walked out of the kitchen toward his bedroom. He walked in and closed the door behind him, taking the couple steps to the bed and collapsing on it. He fell asleep as soon as he hit the mattress.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, there it is. Was it good? Anyway, that's the last of the whole Scourgescary magic boss dude storyline for a couple chapters. I mean, it's mentioned a bit, but it never really gets directly involved in the upcoming installments. Yeah, so, the next couple are actually going to get into Tails' and Brad's lives as bounty hunters. Yep. So, like always, review, favorite, alert, tell friends, and give an apple to all your teachers on the date of Jan. 23rd. Unless you're not in school anymore. Then just don't give apples to anyone. Unless you want to. Then go for it. So, 'til next time, seeya!  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, first, I may owe a couple apologies, here. Firstly, I wanna apologize for taking SO long to update. It's just I've been busy with school and I started a new writing project that i got caught up in, nothing big or planned-to-post or anything, but, yeah... So, I'm back now and hopefully I'll post a bit sooner than it took me this time... No promises...**

**Secondly, I'm sorry about the length of this chapter. I tried to cut it down, but everything in this chapter has to stand together. There is nowhere that I could cut this chapter off, it just wouldn't make sense. So, maybe some of you will see the extended length of the chapter as a bonus, and if you don't, then just try to bear with me. I'm thinking that the next chapter will be WAY shorter, but, again, no promises.**

**Okay, now to conclude this extremely long author's note, here's the chapter showcasing a real bounty hunt for the first time. I tried to be realistic about it, but I'm not sure it came off that well. So, hope you like it, read and enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Tails walked down the aisle of cubicles with a casual air, trying his best to look like he was supposed to be here. He figured it was working, since he had walked by at least three security officers without attracting their attention at all. He had heard one of them mention Geoffrey St. John's name, so he knew he had to be careful to avoid <em>him<em>, but that would probably be the only person who would be a problem and Tails knew he could handle him if he needed to.

He kept walking, scanning around him and watching as person after person walked past him; desk workers, soldiers, G.U.N. agents, royal officers, and another security officer. Then, as he neared the end of the aisle, he spotted one of the people he was looking for in a small cubicle as he passed it. He stopped and doubled back, peeking around the doorway in the cubicle to look inside.

Tails saw a red furred echidna sitting at a small desk inside the cubicle, hunched over and writing on a piece of paper in a moderately sized file that was lying open on the desk. He was wearing his usual sleeveless jacket, but his brown, cowboy hat was hanging on a hook that hung on the wall above the desk. Tails also noticed a large stack of variously sized files of different colored folders pushed to the farthest corner of the desk.

"Hey, Knuckles," greeted Tails casually as he entered the cubicle.

"Tails," greeted Knuckles gruffly in response without looking up from his work or making any other indication of acknowledging the fox's presence.

"Whatcha doin'?" asked Tails curiously as he sat down in a spare chair next to the wall behind the echidna.

"Paperwork," replied Knuckles in the same gruff, focused, slightly annoyed tone as before.

"What kinda paperwork?" asked Tails nonchalantly, leaning back in the chair and looking up at the ceiling.

"What do you want, Tails?" asked Knuckles flatly, finally looking up from his work and spinning around in his chair to give the fox an annoyed look.

"Well, I just thought that you'd be able to tell me what I can do to help with the Scourge hunt," explained Tails with a shrug as he stood up from his chair slowly.

"Okay, well, I know exactly what you can do," replied Knuckles, feigning a polite tone.

"Really?"

"Go home," commanded Knuckles, dropping his fake-polite tone and giving Tails an annoyed frown.

"Go home?" asked Tails with sarcastic thoughtfulness, stroking the small, sparse goatee on his chin in a dramatic manner. "That doesn't sound like it would be helpful at all." He crossed his arms and shot the echidna a challenging look.

"It is to us," retorted Knuckles smartly. "It helps us not to risk making a mess of things by letting a civilian get involved where he's not supposed to be."

"Seriously? You're gonna play the 'civilian' card?" challenged Tails haughtily.

"That's the card Sonic and Sally told me to play if I caught you here," replied Knuckles smugly. "And it's not the only card I have. So, leave, or I keep playing."

"Like what?" challenged Tails in a cocky voice.

"I'm not above setting St. John on you," warned Knuckles. "Neither am I above playing the 'GENERAL' card." He shot the fox a smug grin and went back to working at his desk.

"You're gonna tell my dad on me?" sniggered Tails.

"It'll work," Knuckles shot back indifferently.

"Please," said Tails, still cocky as before. "I'm twenty one, Knux. You'd have no business calling my dad into this. He's not responsible for me anymore."

"Okay, fine," replied Knuckles frustratedly, turning back to face Tails again. "But you still don't want Geoffrey to come and get you, do you?"

"Okay, fine, whatever," said Tails in a calming tone. "I'll leave, you win."

"Thank you," growled Knuckles in annoyed relief as he turned back to his paperwork. Tails chuckled under his breath as he turned and walked out, beginning his walk back up the aisle of cubicles. On his way, he felt his cell phone vibrate in the pocket of his jeans. He pulled it out and answered it, bringing the speaker to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Miles, how's it goin'?" Cassie's voice asked over the speaker in the fox's ear.

"Eh, been better," replied Tails aloofly. "I got stonewalled in my attempt to get in on the Scourge-hunt."

"Oh, that sucks," remarked Cassie. "What's your next plan of attack?"

"I don't know," said Tails. "Still working that out."

"Well, in the meantime, you up for a job?" asked Cassie. "Or two?"

"Two?"

"Yeah, two bail jumpers," answered Cassie. "I'll give you the details later, but this might be a challenge, Miles."

"Have I ever failed you?"

"No, but this is different," replied Cassie amusedly. "You may need an extra hand for this."

"Why?" asked Tails confusedly. "One for me, one for Brad, right?"

"One of them's a porcupine."

"Ah," said Tails understandingly. Porcupines were usually two-man jobs. Whether it was bounty hunting, a car chase, a cop's suspect pursuit, or a _really_ dangerous game of capture the flag, you always sent two people after a porcupine. They're usually hard to take down, what with the really spiky, natural defense they have, but if you play your cards right, and bring a friend who's willing to help, they can go down just as easily as anyone else.

"Yeah," said Cassie with a chuckle.

"Well, I might have an idea or two about that," replied Tails thoughtfully.

"Okay, well, whatever you do, try and make it look good," said Cassie pointedly. "You're trying to impress a prospective, regular client, here."

"Huh?"

"The bondsman who gave me the jobs asked specifically for you and Brad," explained Cassie. "Get this, he said he was referred to you."

"By who?"

"He said that Mammoth Mogul said good things about you," replied Cassie.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he told me that he called Mogul to ask for a good bounty hunter, 'cause he needed one quick," said Cassie. "So, Mogul told him about you. Said you were the new, up-and-coming team in the field."

"Hmmm," hummed Tails thoughtfully, slightly suspicious as to why a lifelong nemesis of his was suddenly singing praises for him. He decided to leave it for now and investigate later. "Okay, well, I'll just get down to you and you can fill me in on the details for the jobs."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few," said Cassie. "You want me to comb through my little, black book and see if I can find a good, extra hand that works cheap?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Tails confidently. "I have that covered. I just might know a guy who I can coax into helping."

"Who?"

* * *

><p>Miles awoke to a silent, empty apartment, sitting up with a tired groan and yawning softly. He looked around, scanning his surroundings. No one was there. The TV was off. No music was blasting from the stereo system next to the couch. Miles finally had the entire place to himself. Though it wasn't easy to see from the way he acted, he was actually somewhat happy about this. He liked solitude. He liked to be alone. He had learned at a young age that one could never trust anyone and come out clean, so having a roommate or a cohabitant of any kind wasn't something he was thrilled about. Living with someone meant trusting that they wouldn't turn on you at anytime or that they could keep your location a secret from those that you didn't want to see.<p>

Needless to say, he was less than satisfied with his current situation. Not only was he being forced to be a roommate with somebody, but that somebody just happened to be his opposite counterpart from another universe. Then, on top of that, he had to endure the best friend of said counterpart barging in every day, blasting music over the industrial speakers in the living room and freeloading off the contents of his friend's fridge and pantry.

He had been there for two days already. That had been one day and twenty-three hours too much for him, and he was still debating over whether or not he could consider that first hour sufficiently tolerated to be counted. But he had to stay here. Sure, he had every freedom to leave and find his own place, but, wherever that was, he would have to tell Sonic and Sally.

After the whole Scourge fiasco, Tails had told him that he had kept him from having to go to jail, but that Sally would be keeping a very close eye on him to make sure that he stayed out of trouble.

He couldn't leave because he had a window of opportunity here. Here, the good, royal couple thought that the watchful eye of their fox friend was enough surveillance for the time being. Sure, Sonic would stop by once or twice to check up, but, other than him and Tails, Miles actually had a semblance of privacy. If he moved, then whatever habitation he found next would be under more surveillance than the king's own court, short of live guards. There would be wire taps, cameras, bugs, chronic searches and/or seizures, key loggers on every electronic device he had, GPS implantations on his person, and any other measure of security that they could drum up. He doubted he would even be able to have a private moment in the shower.

But here, in moments like this, where there was no one and nothing watching him, he'd be able to plan and plot in secret. He had already thought of several different plans to gather up some cash and disappear, but he needed some time to himself to set those plans in motion. Now that he had some, he decided it was high time to start preparing to push the "go" button.

He stood up from the couch and walked quickly to the kitchen. Tails kept his laptop computer on the kitchen's back counter, and he left it unlocked so that Brad could get on it when he needed to for whatever reason. Miles moved the computer to the table in the middle of the room, got himself a glass of juice, and sat down in front of the computer, starting it up and watching it load as he thought about what he would need to do. First, he would need start putting together a new identity. For that, he'd need to find a good paper forger. Then he'd need to-

"Hello?" Miles' train of thought was interrupted by the questioning call and the sound of the door loudly slamming shut. Miles groaned loudly in annoyance as Brad entered the kitchen. Brad spotted the dismayed fox at the table and looked at him questioningly. "Is Mi' here?"

"No," groaned Miles in a disdainful response. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just dropped by to say 'hi'," replied Brad casually with a shrug as he started heading for the fridge. "Wanted to come and check in with Mi', see if he could call Cassie. Look for a job. I have found myself in the mood to chase down cheap criminals for bigger criminals and bail jumpers for bondsmen." He opened up the fridge and took a soda out.

"Sounds fun," quipped Miles sarcastically.

"Yep," replied Brad with a grin as he sat down in the chair opposite Miles. "Whatcha doin', there?" Miles sighed in annoyed defeat and closed the laptop in front of him.

"Nothing now," he said through gritted teeth, leaning back in the chair and giving Brad an abhorring glare.

"Okay, then," said Brad with a shrug as he opened the can and took a sip. "You know where Mi' is?"

"No," answered Miles flatly. Brad nodded understandingly in response as he took another sip of the soda and set the can down on the table. Brad leaned back in his chair and stared back at Miles thoughtfully. They continued to stare at each other, Miles glaring annoyedly at the single-tailed fox, while Brad gave the twin-tail a pondering stare. Finally, after a few minutes had passed, Brad decided to stop staring and speak up.

"So, if you're gonna be staying here a while," he started casually. "Maybe I should get to know you a little better, right?" Miles cocked an eyebrow at him in confused discomfort, absolutely at a loss for what to say. Of all the ways he predicted this conversation going, this way wasn't on the list.

"Huh?" he said blankly.

"Y'know, figure out your story, here," said Brad casually. "I mean, from what Miles told me, you're supposed to be the exact opposite of him. Same attributes, same abilities, but opposite personalities."

"Yeah," said Miles slowly, more than slightly uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. "So?"

"So, I think that that's not entirely true," explained Brad scrutinizingly, leaning forward, putting his elbows on the table, cradling his chin on his hands, and studying Miles closely. "I may not be a genius, but I am good with people. And one thing I believe is that peoples' personalities are shaped by their lives, their stories. You and Miles are exactly the same person, just with different stories. I want to know what that story is."

"Why?" scoffed Miles disbelievingly.

"Everyone I've asked, Miles, Sonic, even the princess, have all said that you're basically bad," answered Brad matter-of-factly. "I don't believe anyone is just basically bad or good. I believe they can be basically bad or good, but I also believe that that can change in an instant; that one, single, experience can change a person completely, turn them inside out and upside down, and change the way they see the world entirely."

"So?" asked Miles, lost as to what the point of this was.

"So, I wanna know why," said Brad flatly. "I wanna know what single experience made anti-Miles such a bad guy." Miles let out a disbelieving laugh.

"No," he said with a smile. He stood up from the chair and grabbed his juice off the table. "No, I am not gonna sit here and play kitchen-table-psychologist with someone I hardly know, whose very existence annoys me."

"Translation?" shot Brad smartly, leaning back in his chair and giving Miles an annoyingly cocky look. "'I'm too scared to tell you, Brad.'"

"Okay, fine, you think I'm not just basically bad?" retorted Miles defensively. "How about this for proof I am? In the two days I've been here, I have planned out, in detail, your murder, Tails' murder, Sonic's possible kidnapping, how to hack into the Acorn treasury and steal a small fortune, and disappear off the grid to live in luxury on a remote, tropical island that I own the title deed to."

"And?" asked Brad expectantly. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

"No, you're supposed to be a bit intimidated, though," argued Miles. "Because I _am_ capable of that."

"So?" asked Brad indifferently. "I knew that. I know you're capable of doing that. I don't care."

"Well, why do you care so much about me and my life, then?" asked Miles. "I thought I was the enemy."

"Because I'm surrounded by people who are totally biased about you," answered Brad shortly. "Like I said, I'm a people person. I wanna understand why you are who you are before I'm totally convinced by everyone around me about it instead of being convinced by you yourself." Miles opened his mouth to argue back, but was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing down the hallway.

"Miles?" Tails entered the kitchen, carrying a couple manila file folders in his hand. "Oh, Brad, you're here, too."

"Hey, Mi'," greeted Brad happily. Miles crossed his arms and glared annoyedly at Tails.

"Okay, I got a couple jobs for us," said Tails, dropping the folders on the table. "Two bail jumpers. Total pay is six grand. We should probably catch both of them today, or they might get a chance to disappear."

"Okay," said Brad as he stood up from the chair. He turned to Tails with a ready-to-go look. "What are the choices?"

"Bail jumper number one," began Tails as he picked a folder off the table and handed it to Brad. "Her name's Lorena Dominade." Brad opened the folder and found a small stack of various paperworks. Clipped to the top of the first page was a mugshot of a white-furred cat with a large black spot that covered the top-left corner of her face, from the top of her head, over her eye, and down to the top of the cheek. "She's an amateur cat burglar who got caught breaking into a small, jewelry store in the mini-mall downtown. She was supposed to show up in court yesterday, but, obviously, she missed her appointment. She's also been previously charged with a couple aggravated assault charges and one assault with a deadly weapon. She was never convicted, but taking a little caution with this one can't hurt."

"Oh, it's fine, I'll be careful," said Brad as he closed the file and put it under his arm, starting for the doorway out of the kitchen. Tails grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back sharply.

"No, Brad, there's still one more," he said as he spun Brad back around and stood him next to the table. He picked up the second file and gave it to Brad. "Bail jumper number two. Name's Brent Thomas." Brad opened the second file and found a considerably smaller stack of paperwork than what the cat-burglar-cat had in her file. He looked at the mugshot. The picture was of a young-looking, male porcupine. He looked younger than Brad himself was. "He was the subject of a citizen's arrest after he broke into a house in the middle of the night and was caught by the owner. The owner proceeded to beat him into submission after Thomas didn't comply with his request to leave quietly. The owner dragged him outside and handcuffed him to a streetlight and waited for the police to come pick him up." Brad chuckled slightly.

"That's kinda sad," he remarked amusedly.

"Yeah," said Tails in agreement. "Five grand bounty for the cat burglar, one grand for the porcupine."

"Okay, but I hope you see a very obvious problem, here, Mi'," said Brad as he tossed the folders back onto the table.

"Yeah, I know," replied Tails quickly. "I was kinda hoping one of the foxes in the room would be a little charitable for us." He looked up at Miles, Brad following his gaze interestedly. Miles gave him a confused look and chuckled disbelievingly.

"Me?" he asked. "What, you think I even know how to be 'charitable'?" He turned around and started heading out of the room.

"Okay, fine, we'll pay you," said Tails quickly. Miles stopped in his tracks, turning to glance back interestedly at the two bounty hunters. "Six grand total, you can have a third." Miles turned around and gave them a smug smile. As much as he abhorred the idea of doing any kind of work with either of them, he needed as much money as he could get. The things he would need to put his plans in motion were going to cost a little bit. A two grand payday wouldn't be too bad.

"Half," replied Miles flatly. Three grand was even better.

"No way," said Brad with an amused snigger. "No, you're not getting half for-"

"Deal," Tails cut him off quickly. Brad shot him a confused look, but Tails grabbed his shoulder and headed him into the hallway behind them before he could make any kind of protest. He dropped his voice to a low whisper and turned away from Miles to keep him from listening. "Brad, we need to let him in. This one isn't about the money. Cassie said that the bondsman who gave her the job requested us specifically. We need to make this look good so he'll want to hire us directly again. It'd be nice to have a regular client who hires us for every job rather than just jump in after rumors we hear or info that Cassie passes along to us from the grape vine."

"He asked for us _specifically_?" asked Brad interestedly. Tails nodded with a slight grin. Brad frowned slightly as he thought it over quickly. Then he gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, we'll cut him in for half."

"Thank you," replied Tails in relief. They both turned around to face Miles again and went back into the kitchen. He gave them an expectant look. "Okay, you can have half." Miles grinned victoriously in response.

"Yes," said Brad quietly. He grabbed one of the files off the table and started walking towards the door again. "So, you two have fun with the porcu- AUGHH!" Tails dragged him back into the kitchen and put him next to the table again.

"No, you don't get to just walk out and leave me and him with the hard job," argued Tails firmly.

"Why not?" asked Brad confusedly.

"Um, hello!" replied Tails, like it should have been obvious. "Me and him? We don't work together!"

"Why not?" Brad repeated the question. "You managed to organize a pretty nice breakout together, back in that bunker." Tails opened his mouth to argue back, but stopped when he couldn't think of an argument to make. Brad smiled at him smartly.

"Okay, then," said Tails challengingly. "Why should you get the easy job?"

"Because you owe me the easy job," replied Brad. Tails cocked a confused eyebrow at Brad. "I got the last porcupine when we got one last year. Alone, I might add. I almost lost an eye! Now you get this one. At least you get some help with your turn."

"This, coming from the guy who's been sleeping on _my_ couch for the last month?" asked Tails indignantly.

"Hey, guys!" They both looked at Miles, who was giving them a questioning stare. "Don't I get a chance at the easy job?"

"No," the two Mobians replied in unison.

"You're the new guy," said Tails with a disbelieving snigger. "You think you're getting off easy on your first job?"

"Plus, you're getting half the money," said Brad pointedly. "No, you get to lift the most weight." Miles sighed in annoyance.

"Whatever," he said defeatedly.

"Okay, we'll just have to decide the fair way," said Tails, raising his palm up in front of him and placing his fist on top of his palm. Brad sighed and mimicked the action.

"Okay, one round win," he said firmly.

"One! Two! Three!" the two foxes shouted in unison, smacking their fists on their palms with each exclamation. On the third, Tails produced his index and middle fingers out of his fist, while Brad laid his hand out flat on his open palm.

"Ha!" shouted Tails victoriously. "Scissors beats paper!" He took the file for the cat burglar out of Brad's hand and headed for the door. "Have fun with Spiky!" Brad sighed defeatedly and looked over to Miles, who was watching him with an indifferent expression.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me," said Brad quietly, grabbing the other file off the table.

* * *

><p>Tails watched silently from his position at an empty table in the middle of the food court of the downtown mini-mall. The lunch rush had made it hard to keep track of any specific person in the large court, but Tails didn't find that to be of any difficulty to him. All he had to do was watch one single store and act like he was supposed to be there.<p>

The store he was watching was a hat shop. He knew that his cat burglar probably wouldn't be looking for a new hat right now, but he also knew the owner of the store. The owner was known to sell fake identities out of the back of the store. He was a good, cheap forger. His identities weren't that great, but they were good enough for small time criminals to disappear with, so it only made sense for her to come here. That and Cassie had already bribed the forger into telling her that the cat had already stopped by to buy a new identity. So, now all Tails had to do was wait until she came back to collect her new papers.

Tails took a bite of the cheeseburger he'd bought and leaned back in his chair, sighing heavily out of boredom. He hated stakeouts. Probably something he'd learned to do a long time ago from Sonic. He could sit and wait for a while, but the prospect of doing nothing but watching a hat shop for what could possibly be hours made him want to bang his head on the table he was sitting at. He needed to find something to do.

He pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and put the phone to his ear and waited for the person he was calling to answer.

"Whatcha need, Miles?" asked the voice of Cassie politely over the phone speaker.

"I don't _need_ anything, I just wanted to talk to you," replied Tails plainly.

"Well, as much as I'd like to, I can't right now, I have to go wait tables," said Cassie apologetically. "Why don't you talk to Brad?"

"Because that would lead into an argument over why I got to take the cat burglar and leave him stuck with the porcupine job," explained Tails. "With Miles, at that."

"Miles?" asked Cassie interestedly. "How'd you get him to help?"

"Cut him in for the money," replied Tails with a slight sigh. "Half, to be exact."

"Oh, Brad wasn't too happy about that, was he?" remarked Cassie with an amused chuckle.

"No, he wasn't," said Tails in agreement. "But I was able to convince him."

"Well, I'm sorry, Miles, but I have to work, so, I gotta go," said Cassie. "I'll call you after I'm off." Tails was about to try and get her to stay on the line, but stopped when he spotted a white cat in a black, leather jacket, a pair of loose, black jeans, and a pair of black, leather boots walking quickly up to the hat store.

"Actually, hold that thought, I think I may be busy for a while," replied Tails confidently. Cassie chuckled softly.

"Alright then, good luck," said Cassie. The line went dead and Tails stood up, putting his phone away in the pocket of his jeans. He took a bite of his cheeseburger and pushed the chair he was sitting in back under the table. Then he threw the burger away and started off towards the hat shop, approaching it at a casual pace and stopping short at the store next door, where he positioned himself to wait for his prey to come back out. He took a stance in front of the store's window that helped him appear as if he was window shopping rather than waiting for a stalk-ee.

He wasn't a big fan of waiting like this. In fact, he hated it. He had always hated waiting outside somewhere for a collar. It made him feel insecure, like every second that he waited for the prize was another second something could go wrong; eg. another bounty hunter entering the scene and making things difficult for him by adding competition to the list of obstacles in his job, something happening that would prevent him from completing the job, or complications arising with the business that the target was currently conducting, compromising the entire situation for everyone, and that wasn't even the end of the list that the genius twin-tail could think of. Bottom line, if he could do it his own way, he'd waltz right into the shop and take the target down with whatever means necessary. Sadly for him, though, a confrontation of any kind in the hat shop would very probably lead to less-than-desirable results.

No doubt the shop owner, a career identity-forger, also rumored to have recently begun to dabble in a little bit of arms dealing out the back of his store on the side, had a decent firearm, or two, in his possession, and the cat the fox was targeting was most likely armed as well, while the only thing that Tails had armed himself with was a nine millimeter pistol filled with rubber bullets. He also had a decent combat knife on him, but he didn't think that would do much good in a gun fight. Needless to say, a homicide or two would probably snag his plans up a bit, especially if he was one of the victims.

So Tails waited patiently, doing his best at pretending to be interested in the items displayed behind the window in front of him, which, to his awkward disappointment, happened to be different pieces of women's lingerie. After a few minutes of fake-ogling the undergarments in the window, he decided move to the store on the other side of the hat shop, hoping mostly to find something in the window there that wouldn't help him draw attention to himself because he was staring just a bit _too_ long at it, but he also hoped to get a glance at the goings-on inside the hat shop so he could get a grip in what was taking so long for his feline target to get her new papers.

He walked at the same casual pace that he had initially approached the store with, taking a few moments to stop and peek in at the store through the glass front door. He pretended to look around the inside of the hat shop from outside, uninterestedly scanning the various shelves of hats that lined the walls of the shop. Then he took a look at the check-out counter that was on the directly opposite side of the room to the door.

Two people stood there. The first was the cat burglar, who was standing in front of the counter, leaned up against it with her hip as she read what was inside an open file folder she was holding. The second was a short rat that stood behind the counter, watching the cat silently with a stern, and somewhat impatient, expression as he waited for her to finish reading. Tails decided to keep moving when the rat behind the counter noticed him and gave him a dirty look that said that the store was closed, regardless of what the sign on the door said. He positioned himself in front of the window of the store next door and pretended that he was interested in them, as he had the first store. Luckily for him, the products in the window weren't lingerie of any kind.

After a couple minutes of silent staring, the fox pulled his cell phone out and put it to his ear, pretending to talk to someone about the products he was looking at. The conversation only ended up lasting about a minute and a half, cut short by the emergence of the cat target from the hat shop.

Tails stopped talking into the phone and focused on the reflection in the glass of the store's window to watch where his target was heading. After she disappeared around the corner, he pretended to hang up his phone, turned around as he pocketed it, and followed the trail of the cat at a discreet pace, keeping a casual air so as to keep from alerting the cat that she was being followed. He came around the corner and spotted her walking at a brisk pace some distance in front of him. He followed her trail, being sure to keep her in his sight, but just barely, to make sure he stayed as much out of her sight as possible. Finally, after about ten minutes of following her through the mall, she finally exited the complex and headed out into an above ground parking lot. Tails followed her out, not bothering to be as discreet as he was in the mall, but still keeping from alerting his target of his presence. He knew he had to get her in the parking lot, or she'd be gone for good with a new identity after she left.

He watched her disappear around a large, black van in the middle of a parking lot and, when he noticed that she didn't come out from behind the other side of the van, he knew that it was now or never for him to make his move on her. Pulling his gun out of the back of the waist of his pants, he quickly approached the van, stopping short of rushing around the corner. Then, after a few moments of mental preparation, he bolted around the van, leading with his gun, only to come to face something that he hadn't been expecting in the least.

The first thing he saw was the gun. It was big, much bigger than his, it was jet black, and it had a large silencer attached to the barrel. The second thing he noticed was the cocky smirk that was lounging on the face of the cat who was holding the gun.

"Miles, right?" Tails lowered his gun slightly as he heard the click of the safety switch being switched off for good measure. The cat chuckled amusedly to herself. "I should send that forger a thank-you card. He gave me this piece free of charge when he saw you creeping around outside the store. Told me that offing you would be payment enough." Tails opened his mouth to retort, but she cut him off shortly. "Ah, ah, ah!" She shook her head in a mock-scolding manner. "You don't talk right now. You get in the car." The fox sighed defeatedly as he started to put his gun back into his pants, only to be stopped short again by the cat. "No, the gun stays here." He groaned annoyedly as he set the gun down on the ground and looked back up at the cat, who was holding the side door of the van open and motioning with her gun for him to get in. When he had gotten in and sat down in the seat nearest the opposite door, she smiled sadistically at him. "Now, we're gonna take a ride. It'll be a long one, so, I'll just help you get comfortable." Then, without warning, she reached over to him with lightning speed and pounded the side of the gun handle into Tails' face, causing the fox to instantly fall unconscious in his seat.

* * *

><p>"HOLY SHIT!" Miles jumped into a headlong dive over a dumpster, using his tails to give himself a slight, aerial boost. The dumpster seemed to move out from underneath him as he flew over it and landed face-first into the ground on the other side. He quickly scrambled onto his knees, ignoring the pain in his face and chest, and backed up against the side of the dumpster, taking cover from the bullets he could hear crashing overhead into the wall of the building next to him.<p>

He looked to the opposite side of the alley and saw Brad crouched behind a line of metal trash cans. He was peeking his head over the metal tops of the cans and aiming his chrome pistol down the alley, returning fire. He ducked back down when a small flurry of oncoming bullets pelted the wall next to him. He took a second to slip the gun's magazine out and check his ammo. Then he slid it back into the gun and looked up across the alleyway at Miles, who gave him an angry scowl.

"You didn't tell me he had a gun!" he yelled in outrage.

"I didn't know he had a gun!" Miles growled in frustration at this before jumping slightly at the loud, metallic clangs and the small explosions of sparks caused by bullets ricocheting off the edge of the dumpster next to him. He looked back at Brad with the same angry scowl as before.

"Why don't I have a gun?"

"Miles told me not to give you one!" Miles rolled his eyes annoyedly and looked back at Brad, who was peeking his head over the lids to begin returning fire again.

"Wait!" Brad stopped short of aiming the gun over the lid and crouched back down behind the full cover of the cans, shooting an irritated look at Miles in response.

"What?"

"Save your ammo!" Miles warned quickly. "He has to run out at some point. Let's just wait for him to empty his own clip and then dive on him."

"No, we don't have that kinda time," argued Brad. "The cops are probably already on their way. If they get here to clean things up before we get the collar, we don't get a payday." He looked back down the alley and started to peek over the cans again, but Miles stopped him short a second time.

"Wait!"

"WHAT?" Brad's expression had changed in an instant from one of slight irritation to one of total exasperation.

"Let me have the gun," Miles held out his hand expectantly. The single-tail's face was wiped completely of its exasperated expression and took on a look of distrust and suspicion. It was one thing for him to let the Moebian come out in the field with him on a hunt, but giving the evil fox the only firearm that he had was an entirely different matter. "C'mon! I'm a good shot! I can end it!" Miles watched as he silently debated with himself over whether or not to hand the gun over. Finally, after a few seconds of silent self-conflict, rushed considerably by the sound of a bullet or two impacting on the trash can he was crouching behind, Brad nodded and tossed the gun to the waiting twin-tail, who caught it and immediately slipped the clip out of the handle to check the ammo for himself. Four rounds le- huh...? Wait... We're those...?

"Why the hell is this thing loaded with rubber rounds?" He looked up at Brad with an agitated expression as he held up the gun's clip for him to see.

"Do you know what kinda payout a dead collar fetches?" Brad argued defensively. Miles sighed slightly, muttering under his breath that it was a fair point as he slid the clip back into the handle. He took a deep breath before taking the gun in his hands and holding it up by his head at the ready. He darted to his feet and turned to face down the alley, sweeping the gun out in front of him as he did so and perching his arms on the dumpster in one, graceful movement.

He spotted the target in a second; the same porcupine he had seen in the mugshot in the folder he had looked at during the car ride there. The spiky rodent was standing at his full height with his pistol aimed directly back at Miles. The fox squeezed off two consecutive shots before he instinctively ducked back down behind the dumpster in reaction to the sound of the porcupine's return fire.

Then a sharp, pained yell echoed through the alley, followed shortly by the metallic clatter of a firearm being dropped to the ground. Miles took this as a cue to take the offensive and bolted out from behind the dumpster. He spotted his spiny target at the other end of the alley bending down to retrieve his weapon, holding his outstretched wrist with his other hand. He could see blood slowly dripping from under his grasp.

The armed fox squeezed off another round as a warning shot, which zinged threateningly over the porcupine's head, coming so close that it broke off a quill or two before bouncing off the wall that stood just behind the porcupine to block off the alley's path through.

"Okay, okay! Geez!" he yelled in alarm as he stood back up to his full height and raised his hands over his head, rather awkwardly as he was still holding the bleeding wrist that Miles had hit. "Shit! I get it!"

"Yeah, sure you do," Miles shot back sarcastically as he advanced on the surrendering rodent, keeping Brad's gun trained on him the whole time. "Slide your gun to me with your foot. Don't try anything or I'll drop you in a second." The porcupine scowled darkly at him as he obeyed the command. Miles picked up the gun and aimed it at his target alongside the chrome pistol.

"Nice shot, Evil Twin," remarked Brad as he came to the twin-tail's side. Miles handed him his pistol and kept the porcupine's black one aimed at its owner.

"You can cuff him," Miles replied smugly. Then he noticed, with the lack of loud gunshots filling the alley with noise, the faint sound of sirens approaching closer and quickly added "Then knock him out and I'll fly him away. You can dodge the cops on your own and meet me back at the car." Brad nodded and pulled out a pair of handcuffs as he started over to their new collar. He had barely closed the first cuff on the porcupine's spiky wrist when the almost-captive made his move.

He only had to move his arm a few inches. Suddenly, a burning, piercing pain invaded Brad's abdomen, forcing him to buckle over out of reflex. Next thing he knew, someone was forcing him upright again and whipping him around. He felt someone wrap their arm around his neck and hug him towards them as the tip of something sharp was pressed up to his throat.

He opened his eyes back up and was met with the sight of Miles, a determined expression on his face, holding a gun on him.

"Drop the gun now, or I shove this spine into his carotid," announced the voice of Brent Thomas the Porcupine. The only response that Miles gave was a narrowing of the eyes at their enemy. "Do it now!"

"Go ahead and do it," replied Miles challengingly, smirking as he lowered the black pistol and tucked it into the back of his pants. "But first, let me play this out for you. You'll kill him, I'll shoot you in the knee and then knock you out, I'll drop you off at the bondsman's office, and then I'll walk away a grand richer with a smile on my face."

"Hey!" yelled Brad in protest.

"So, any way you slice it, I get my money," continued Miles smartly. "Which is all I really care about. So, the ball's really in your court, because you need to decide if you go to jail for robbery and trespassing, or if you add murder to that list. Do you wanna go to prison for a few years, or the rest of your life?" Thomas stared back at Miles in thoughtful silence. Finally, after a minute of thinking and listening to the cops getting closer, he gave a defeated sigh as he took the spine in his hand away from Brad's throat and let him go.

"Fine," he groaned as he put his hands up. Brad turned around and finished putting the cuffs on him. Then, he drew back a fist and launched it into the side of the porcupine's face, sending him to the ground, unconscious.

"That's for holding me hostage," growled Brad angrily. He turned around to look at Miles. "Would you really have let him kill me?" Miles replied with only a smile as he walked past the fox and took their unconscious prisoner by the links of the handcuffs.

"I'll meet you at the car in a few," he said quietly.

"Okay," said Brad slowly, slightly put off by the lack of an answer he had received. "I'll see ya there."

* * *

><p>Tails woke up with a splitting headache, or rather what he would have called a face-ache. He opened his eyes to a vision of freeway scenery zooming by in front of him behind a layer of tinted glass. He groaned slightly as he lifted his head up and looked around. He was sitting in the right hand side seat of the back of a large van. He found that his right hand was currently handcuffed to the assist handle above the door. With his own cuffs, too. He didn't know why, but this fact kinda pissed him off.<p>

"Morning, sunshine." Tails looked up to the driver's seat to find the cat burglar-cat he had been following in the mall smiling smartly to herself, though he knew the smile was meant as a taunt for him.

"That was such a cheap shot," Tails said to her with a groan as he rubbed his aching face.

"Well, I knew you'd be too much of a hassle awake."

"I thought the deal you had with that forger was that you would kill me."

"Well, I would, if you were just some bounty hunter schmuck," said the cat. "But you aren't just anyone. No, you're the famous Miles 'Tails' Prower, retired Freedom Fighter and previous best friend of the royal fiancé himself, until you two supposedly had a falling out. By the way, if you don't mind me asking, you're like a child genius with mechanical expertise to rival every mechanic in the city, and most other cities, too, with major connections through friends _and_ family to the inner workings of the government itself, and you go into bounty hunting? How did that happen?"

"Long story," grumbled Tails as he leaned his head in his free hand out of annoyance. "So, why am I not dead?"

"Well, I don't think that Marty, that forger, cares about what happens to you, so long as I get you out of his hair," continued the cat. "So, to me, you're valuable, stolen cargo that a couple people would really want back, the list being topped by General and Mrs. Amadeus Prower and Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm pretty sure that the Princess would be somewhere up there, too. So, anyway, I know a guy who I can use as a fence. Total ghost, no way anyone can trace him. Lucky for me, I'm an old friend. So, I cut him in for the profit and he fences you for me. The only question that I need to answer is about who I'm gonna ransom you to? Who do you think will pay the most for you, Tails?" She flashed him a cunning glance in the rear view mirror and gave another smart smile to herself, again meant for Tails.

"Lorena Dominade, amateur cat burglar, assaulter, and now a kidnapper?" asked Tails, feigning curiosity. "Are you really that desperate for cash?"

"No, but a small fortune would be a nice luxury to have," replied Lorena. "See, I don't have to worry about anything. I'll sign the dealings with a giant 'Lorena Dominade' signature because I'm gonna drop that name like a bag of potatoes after I hand you over to my fence. I assume this new identity-" she held up the brown folder he had seen her reading in the hat shop "-and then I leave the country and collect the ransom from my friend after he exchanges you for it. Then you can never find me and I never see you again."

"Well, glad to be a great source of income," remarked Tails dryly as he leaned back in his seat and looked out the window. Then another thought occurred to him. "How long was I out?"

"A couple hours," answered the cat flatly. Damn.

"Oh, great," he groaned. "Where are we headed?"

"Treasure Town." Damn-er.

Treasure Town, more commonly known as "Crime City", was famous for being the central hub of the criminal underworld for the entire, western hemisphere. Run by the retired hall-of-fame-ers of thievery and con artistry, it was home to retired criminals living off of whatever their "last hurrah" had been before they called it quits, it was used as a place of business for criminals who were in the top of whatever field they ran in, and it was the main sanctuary for any criminals on the run. With professional criminals running the place and a police force that was paid off out the wazoo, it might as well have been its own country at this point.

But this wasn't what bothered Tails. No, what bothered him was the fact that the city was about as far away from Mobotropolis as any city could get on sovereign, Acorn territory. Lying directly on the border, it was, at least, a six hour drive from the kingdom's capitol. Of course, a city of criminals _had_ to be based in a supreme smuggling spot, it just made sense. Tails just hoped that he hadn't gotten too rusty in the "running" category since he stopped hanging around Sonic. Bright side? He had at least a couple hours to think of a way to escape. Though, the sooner he could figure it out, the better. Time to start thinking, then.

He decided to start by taking stock of what he had. He wasn't wounded or hindered by any physical trauma, he was handcuffed to a rubber assist handle over a car door, he was being driven to a fence to be ransomed, and he had no potential weapons on his person. He looked around in the seats next to him and on the floor under his feet. The seats were completely clean, empty of anything, useful or otherwise, but the floor was a different story. While it was almost as clean as the seats, it did have a few, random pieces of junk lying about it. One such piece interested the captive fox greatly.

Lying on the floor, just next to his feet, was a small hairpin. Tails quietly swiped the hairpin up. He could use it to pick the lock in the cuffs. Upon further thought, though, he decided it was best to pocket it. He would need at least ten seconds to pick the lock. Ten seconds was more than enough time to draw a weapon and fire, even while driving a car. It wasn't worth it to risk getting caught escaping in an enclosed space with his armed captor.

_Armed_... The word hit him like a slap to the face, bringing him out of his thoughts of waiting to escape at a later time to the possibilities of escaping _now_. If he could find that gun, get his hands on it, he could probably escape in a few minutes. But first, he needed to find where the gun was.

He began looking around at the places that he would keep a gun. The cup holders up front were empty, as was the dashboard. He couldn't see the front seat or inside the glove compartment. There wasn't anything under the seat in front of him, but he couldn't check under the driver's seat, which he dismissed as a hiding spot because it seemed like a stupid place to put a gun for quick access. That's when he saw it.

He saw a dull glint of light reflect off of a piece of dark black metal that was in a holster attached to the cat's belt. This made things easier and harder for him at the same time. On one hand, the gun was in a place that was of relatively easy access, but on the other hand, he was going to have to be _very_ quick and efficient with his hands when he made for the actual grab. But before he could get at the gun, he had to think of a quick way to escape the cuffs. He already had a plan for that, but he needed a diversion; something that would majorly distract the cat for a few seconds while he made his quick escape. Sadly, it was also going to involve some pain for him.

He checked up at the front seat to make sure that the cat wasn't looking. Then he quickly and quietly rotated onto his back and put his feet up to the assist handle, putting them on either side of the cuff that was curled around it. He lifted himself up, putting himself in a position to make one, hard yank.

Tails had no idea how he had come up with what happened next or where he had gotten it from. He just knew that he had decided to shout the first thing that came to mind that vaguely made sense. Somehow, it worked.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing back there?" _Distraction time!_

"ONCOMING TRUCK!"

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL?"

Tails gave a hard yank on the cuffs. His wrist screamed momentarily with pain, but soon silenced again as the rubber handle tore, releasing the cuffs from its hold and sending him to the seat on his back, where he was sent flying into the seats in front of him as a result of Lorena slamming her foot on the breaks out of alarm. He saw the gun poking out from under the armrest of the driver's seat in its holster for the split second he was being flung forward. He made a grab at it, but he couldn't find out if he had gotten a hold of it or not before his vision was blacked out by his face impacting into the back of a car seat.

He came to a few seconds later, groaning as he opened his eyes and lifted his head off the ground. His nose was smarting badly, since his run in with the seat had been cushioned by his muzzle, and the pain was causing his eyes to water slightly, which made everything look blurry and out of focus. He had forgotten what had happened before he hit the seat, but it all came back when he realized that his hand was holding something cold and shaped to the form of his grasp.

Everything snapped back into focus with this revelation; his vision cleared up instantly and the pain in his nose vanished, or more rather just became ignorable, and he became aware again of the situation he was in.

"Alright, you bitchy, little fox!" Tails twisted himself around onto his back at the sound of the angry shout, leading with the gun he had swiped from his captor. He came face to face with the angry cat, who was in the middle of climbing into the back seat, probably with the intent to pummel the life out of her captive.

She froze in surprise at the sight of her pistol's muzzle staring her in the face. Tails cracked a smug smile as she rolled her eyes in annoyance at the predicament she had found herself in. She got back into the driver's seat and begrudgingly raised her hands up while Tails stood himself up and sat back down in the seat she'd chained him in.

"Okay, fine, I'll let you go," she sighed.

"Nah," replied Tails smugly a he leaned up to the seat in front of him and put the gun's muzzle against the cat's shoulder. "I wanna leave with more than just a new gun."

"Well, there's no way you're leaving with me," shot back Lorena.

"No, I wasn't expecting there to be."

"Well, then what the _hell_ else could I possibly have for you?"

"I want your new papers." The cat let out a small scoff of disbelief.

"Yeah, right." Tails clicked the gun's safety off to emphasize the threat he posed to her. She repeated the scoff from before.

"You really think you scare me?" Tails responded with a sharp jab of the butt of the pistol's handle into the inside of the cat's shoulder. She let out a pained hiss and flinched away as Tails put the muzzle of the gun to her head.

"Oh, give it up," she shot acidly. "Like you would actually kill me in cold blood."

"It's either you or me, here, you wanna risk it?" Tails threatened. "Give me the papers _now_!"

"Fine!" groaned the cat defeatedly. "They're in the passenger seat." She motioned with her head to the seat next to her. Tails looked down at the seat and saw that the folder he had seen her reading earlier was indeed sitting on the seat of the passenger chair.

"Okay, good," he said as he picked up the folder and tucked it under his arm. "Now, I'm gonna leave. _You_ aren't gonna do anything but drive away. If you try anything, I _will_ drop you."

"Whatever," muttered Lorena. Tails slowly made his way to the side door, making sure he was careful enough to keep his weapon on the cat the entire time. He slid the van's door open and slowly stepped out onto the side of the highway. Then he slid the door closed and slowly backed away from the van. The passenger window slid open, revealing the sour glare of Lorena as she stared daggers at him.

"Go on, start driving, just like I said," Tails said with a tone of smug encouragement. "Oh, and don't think this is the last you'll see of me, Lorena. You've still got a bounty on your head and I plan to collect."

"Bitch off, fox boy," retorted Lorena. "You'll never see me again."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, talk, talk, talk, noise, noise, noise," said Tails with a shrug, holding up his hand and opening and closing it in the mock-shape of a talking mouth. "Just watch your back." Lorena shot him an angry scowl. "Now drive on." He gestured down the road with the gun in his hand as he gave her a smirk.

She rolled the window back up and a low clicking sounded as the van switched gears. Tails watched as it moved back into the flow of traffic and slowly disappeared into the throng of cars traveling down the road.

He turned to face away from the highway, to the other side of the road's shoulder and set the folder he had taken on the ground. Then he took a couple steps back and aimed his new firearm at it. He squeezed off a few shots at the file, causing several holes to rip into existence in different places of the folder. Then the wind of the cars flying by blew the file open, causing the papers inside to be taken up by the breeze and flown away into the traffic rush.

He turned to look up the road, against the flow of traffic, deciding he should probably get started on his way home. He twisted his tails together and took to the air. He knew he would have a quicker time getting home by running on the ground, but he had to fly to get a hang of his bearings. He just hoped that he hadn't lost too much if his old running shape.

* * *

><p>Miles watched uninterestedly out the window of Brad's car as its owner approached the vehicle, smiling as he waved a small handful of money bills in his hand. He walked to the other side of the car and climbed in the driver's side.<p>

"One grand in the bag," he cheered victoriously, raising a hand for Miles to hi-five.

"Along with an extremely annoying porcupine," remarked Miles shortly, responding to the hand with an annoyed glare.

"Right," continued Brad with a deflated tone as he lowered his hand. "Anyway, I think this is yours." He offered a few of the bills to Miles, who snatched them up and started silently counting them to himself. Five hundred. Now he just had to wait for his counterpart to get the rest and he would be off to a good start at getting away from here.

"So, how long does it usually take to track down and bag a cat burglar?" he asked as he pocketed the money and sat back in his seat.

"I have no idea," muttered Brad indifferently. "But he hasn't called, so he's probably doing something like chasing the collar or staking out a forger."

"Hmm," Miles hummed thoughtfully.

"Hey," Brad said quietly. "Y'know, about earlier, in the apartment-"

"Oh, not this again," groaned Miles, rolling his eyes.

"Look, I'm not, like, trying to prod, or anything, here," Brad continued. "I just wanna know why you're so, y'know, bad. Here's what it looks like to me: You're here with no foreseeable way of getting back home, you have absolutely no friends or allies, you're in the middle of a war with no side to ally with, and you're essentially being held prisoner behind enemy lines while those enemies are deciding how to deal with you. Now, I don't know what you've done to them or what they're going to decide in how they'll deal with you. I just think that you probably could use a friend or an ally right now." Miles stared at him with a blank expression for a few moments as he thought over what he had just said.

"Look, Brad, I'm not really one for friends," he said flatly when he finally spoke up. "And I'm not really one for making allies with someone I just met who's also best friends with one of my worst enemies. Plus, I'm planning on getting outta here soon, so it doesn't really matter to me that I'm being held prisoner."

"Whatever," said Brad defeatedly as he turned to the front of the car and buckled his seatbelt. He put the key into the ignition and started to turn it to start the car, but stopped and shot a curious look back over at Miles. "Well, what would you say if I asked you to get a drink with me?" Miles gave him a surprised and uncomfortable look as he tried to think of a way to respond.

"I'd say no, because I don't go like that," he replied slowly.

"No, not like that," Brad corrected him. "I mean, like a drinking buddy."

"With me..."

"Yeah," answered Brad. "I mean, I always go out to a club or bar for a drink after I turn in a collar. It's kinda like a personal tradition for me. Anyway, I always try and get Miles to come with me, but, y'know, he's not really into that whole scene. You, though, seem like you'd be really into it." Miles fell silent again as he thought the idea over, nodding slightly after a few seconds.

"Yeah, sure, why not," he said with an indifferent shrug. "With the way things have been going the last few weeks, I could do with a normal night."

"Nice!" said Brad eagerly. "We'll go home, get cleaned up, have a quick dinner, then go for a bar crawl." He turned the key in the ignition, starting the car up, and started driving.

Miles smiled slightly at the sound of this, only for the small feeling of comfort he felt to disappear with it as he silently scolded himself. He knew that no amount of caught collars or "bar crawls" would fit him in anywhere in this world. He didn't belong here. Not only was it a scientific fact, it was also probably a rule somewhere. He was sure that the Zone Cops would definitely have a problem with it, if they weren't so busy rebuilding.

He couldn't allow himself to get comfortable here. If he did, something was bound to happen to screw something up for him and make everything worse for him than it was now. He didn't wanna risk that. He knew that the best thing for him to do was to get back to his own world as quick as he could, where he could lie, cheat, rob, steal, and con his furry, twin-tailed ass off without the worry of Scourge finding him anymore.

But, for now, he would try to make the best of the situation for himself, which meant accepting free drinks from the enemy and plotting his escape behind their backs with money he would get from helping them hunt bounties.

That's when something occurred to him. He turned to Brad with an inquisitive look.

"You know _you're_ buying, tonight, right?"

* * *

><p>Sonic watched silently through his binoculars from the roof of a building across the street as Miles walked into the front doors of Tails' apartment building, closely leading a female lynx behind him. She was short with dark tan fur, she had short, black hair, and she was wearing a very skimpy, black dress.<p>

Sonic had been following Miles since he and Brad had left for their night on the town. That had been about five hours ago and every single minute of it had been a boring nightmare. But the idea of Miles wondering around town with nothing more for supervision than Brad, who clearly wasn't there with him, made the hedgehog more annoyed than the boredom of following the Moebian fox.

"What _are_ you doing?" the voice behind him startled him slightly. He twisted around to find an amused Sally standing behind him.

"I called Tails earlier to check in on Miles," answered Sonic as he turned back around to watch for the twin-tail in question come out onto the outdoor walkway that led to Tails' apartment. "He told me that I should call Brad because that's where he should be. He told me that they teamed up to go after a small time bail jumper."

"Miles is helping them with their bounty hunting?" asked Sally surprisedly.

"Mmhmm," answered Sonic. "And Tails isn't here to watch him."

"Where is he?"

"Making his way up the Kingdom Highway."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I guess he got kidnapped by a collar or something," Sonic explained. "He was able to escape out of their van onto the highway, but he was a good two-and-a-half hours driving time from here."

"When was this?" asked Sally curiously.

"'Bout four, why?"

"Well, he should have been able to cut that time in half on his feet." Sonic turned around to shoot her a slightly worried glance, before he went back to watching for Miles, who was just coming out of the elevator onto the second floor, starting his way over to Tails' front door.

"Well, I figured Brad would call him at some point," he said with a shrug as he watched the fox-and-lynx couple intently. "And if there was something wrong, he'd tell us."

"Well, you've been following them all night," said Sally. "Did he call him?"

"Well, he looked like he did," answered Sonic. "He called _someone_, I don't know if it was Tails, but I'm assuming- _eww_!"

"What?" asked Sally quickly.

"He's _laughing_." Sally sighed tiredly at this. "It's like watching Tails laugh, only, for some reason, it makes you feel like tossing your lunch."

"Okay, you're coming with me," said Sally forcefully as she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him off the ground.

"Fine," groaned Sonic as he stood up with her grasp. "But Sal, I really think we need to come up with something to do with him. I don't like the long leash that Tails is giving him."

"I know, Sonic, I know," replied Sally reassuringly. "And I think I have an idea of what to do."

"Well, I'm all ears, Sal."

"Not here."

"Why not?"

"Because the idea I have is one you're really not gonna like," explained Sally quietly. "Trust me, we are definitely going to argue about it later, so I wanna wait 'til we get home, okay?"

"Fine," sighed Sonic. "I'll warm up my arguing voice."

"Okay, good, let's go." She motioned for him to follow her.

"Hold on," he said, stopping in his tracks. She gave him an inquisitive look. "Don't you think we should stop Miles from having sex with some club chick in Tails' apartment?"

"No, Tails can handle that himself," replied Sally shortly as she started walking away.

"Yeah, I don't wanna risk walking in on them, either," added Sonic as he started following after her.

"Hey, call Tails on the way home," she called back to him. "Just make sure he's actually okay."

* * *

><p>Tails trudged his was down the walkway of his floor, feeling exhausted and aches everywhere.<p>

"Yeah, I just got back, Sonic," he groaned into the phone he had up to his ear.

"Okay, good, now keep an eye on Miles, 'kay?" Sonic's voice replied in his ear. "Also, Sally says that she might have a plan about what to do with him. She said it's not a plan we're gonna like much, but it's _gotta_ be preferable to _this_."

"Well, here's hoping," murmured Tails quietly as he approached the door to his apartment. He was about to open the door when he was stopped by a small, beeping sound in his ear. "Hey, Sonic, I got another call, I gotta go." He took the phone from his ear and looked at the call waiting ID. "CASSIE".

"Wait, Tails! Miles is-!"

"Hello?" said Tails as he put the phone back to his ear and opened his front door, unaware of the warning that Sonic had tried to give him.

"Hey, you never called me back after you told me you'd escaped," said the voice of Cassie in his ear. "What happened?"

"Well, I just got back, so-"

"It took _that_ long to get back here?" Tails turned on the light in his apartment and plopped down on the couch.

"I made a few stops on the way," answered Tails casually. "Dinner, the ammo store, the groomer-"

"The groomer?" interrupted Cassie questioningly. "Why?"

"No reason, just got a little spruce done," he explained in a nonchalant tone as he looked in the reflection of the mirror across the room, rubbing the spot on his chin that was now lacking a sparse goatee. "Got a small shave, checked out a new fur shampoo."

"Ah, you got a shave," said Cassie understandingly. "I was gonna say. You hate the groomer."

"Well, it's awkward," said Tails. "I mean, it's not like you can _just_ get your head done and I don't like people _cleaning_ me. Like I said, it's just... _awkward_."

"Anyway," said Cassie, changing the subject. "How are we gonna catch that Lorena chick?"

"I think I've got an idea about it," replied Tails thoughtfully. "I just need to call a friend. If that doesn't work out, we'll play it by ear from there."

"Okay, but you better hurry," Cassie warned. "It won't be long before she finds another forger and can skip across the border. Especially in Treasure Town."

"I know," said Tails reassuringly. "Oh, and speaking of forgers, I don't think Marty is as much of a friend to us as we thought he was. He's the one that ratted me out."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I'll take care of it," said Cassie confidently.

"Okay."

"So, how did Miles do hunting with Brad today?"

"I don't know," said Tails with a shrug. "They're still out on a bar crawl, I guess. That's what Sonic told me."

"They went on a bar crawl?" asked Cassie. "Wow, they're really getting chummy, huh? Do you actually trust them out on the town together?"

"Eh, I'm tired," said Tails dismissively. "I'll go out when it hits ten-thirty. Track their phones, reel them in and whatnot. But, for now, I-" Tails was stopped by what sounded like a high pitched giggle coming from down the hall, which was where _his_ room was.

"What?"

"Sorry, Cass, I gotta go," said Tails before he hung up the phone and slipped it into his pocket. He got up from the couch and took his new gun out of the back of his pants. He quietly walked down the hall, coming to his bedroom door. As he grew closer, the noise of giggling, laughing, and soft yelling grew louder.

He threw the door open and burst in, leading with the gun, only to find one of the last things he'd expected to find, which was also one of the last things he ever wanted to see. The first thing he saw was the pile of clothing at his feet that looked like it had been thrown there from the bed, consisting of a small, black dress and a red and black, military uniform that he knew so well.

Then, a second later, his gaze flew to the bed, HIS bed, where he saw two people on top of it: The first was a dark tan, female lynx, who was lying on her back, appearing to be lacking in garments of any kind, though Tails couldn't see because the sheet over her covered her from the chest down. The second was Miles, who was on all fours, hovering over the lynx under the sheet. They were both looking over at him, watching him intently as he stared at them, mouth agape, speechless, and a mixture of surprise and hatred etched into his expression.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

"Miles!" Miles got out of the bed and walked over to his counterpart, who was debating whether or not to shoot him then and there. "Look, I know you wanna tell me all about what happened on your bounty hunt, but right now, I'm kinda busy, so, if you could leave, that'd be great." Tails scoffed in disbelief.

"No," he said firmly, stuffing the muzzle of the pistol into the center of Miles' chest. "No, you are going to leave."

"Well, see, the thing is, I don't think she would be really interested in you," retorted Miles with a casual shrug.

"Miles, I swear to God, if you don't get out into the kitchen right now, I will paint my walls with your brain matter," Tails growled, clicking the safety of the gun threateningly and moving the muzzle up to Miles' forehead.

"Right," he said quietly. "Let me just get dressed."

"No, you just _get out_," commanded Tails. Miles, surprisingly, obeyed without question, retreating out of the room. Tails turned his attention to the lynx in his bed, who was giving him a feisty smile.

"Y'know, I find a man who waves a gun around to be very sexy," she said in a quiet, seductive voice. Tails smiled awkwardly at her.

"Uh, sorry, Miss, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said slowly. "My evening just became a _lot_ busier, I mean, I gotta go kill my 'roommate', then hide his body, then buy new sheets and burn these, or maybe just use those to wrap up the body, I haven't really chosen. Point is, you have to leave. I'll step out to let you get dressed, but then..." He finished with a quick nod and turned to leave the room, shutting the door behind him.

"You rat _bastard_," he growled menacingly as he came out to the kitchen to find Miles sitting at the table with an annoyed expression. "You tried to hook up with a club girl in _my_ bed?"

"Well, the couch isn't that comfortable," Miles shot back irritably. Tails raised the gun back up to him.

"Y'know, I could call Sonic up right now, he'd be happy to come and take you somewhere a lot less pleasant," Tails threatened.

"Okay," said Miles. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Just calm down." Tails was seething now, his anger now more intensified by the blatant insincerity in the Moebian's apology. He slowly lowered the gun and put it away. Then they both looked up at the sound of the bedroom door opening.

"Well, I'll see you two later," said the lynx quickly as she walked past the kitchen and out the front door without another word. Miles stood up and walked past Tails, who followed after him closely.

"I can't believe you tried to sleep with someone in _my_ bed," he shot angrily. "You're worse than Brad, and, speaking of which, when did you two get all buddy-buddy anyway?"

"Look, we are not 'buddy-buddy'," replied Miles as he walked into the bedroom and picked up his uniform. "All we did was go out for a few drinks. We ended up picking up a couple girls, he took his home, and I took mine home."

"Well, you don't get to take anymore girls home."

"Whatever," said Miles as he started slipping on his uniform, walking past Tails as he did so. Tails followed him out to the kitchen, where he finished putting his uniform back on and sat back down at the table. "So, how'd the hunt go?"

"I lost her," grumbled Tails as he sat down at the opposite seat.

"You what?"

"I have a plan for finding her."

"You better, otherwise you're gonna have to pay me twenty-five hundred out of pocket."

"Uh, no," said Tails flatly, which earned him a surprised look from Miles. "You agreed to work for _half_ the profit. If that half just ends up being five hundred out of a thousand, then sucks for you." Miles sputtered slightly, flustered.

"Fine," he grumbled as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "What's the plan for finding her?"

"I should probably make that call now, actually," said Tails as he pulled out his phone and started dialing a number.

"What call?" Tails put a finger up to quiet Miles as he put the phone to his ear.

"Rouge the Bat, please?" he said after waiting a few seconds for whoever he was calling to answer. After a couple more seconds, he added "Yes, I'll hold."

"Okay, then," said Miles with a nod. Then he looked up, a look of realization dawning on his face. He started to pat around on the front of his uniform in a slight panic. Then he opened up the front of the uniform and stuck his hand inside, only to stop short when he felt the inside and let out a frustrated groan.

"What?" asked Tails curiously.

"She took my bounty money."

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: CONGRATULATIONS! You've made it to the end of the longest chapter I've ever written! As a reward, you win a PEACOCK! To accept your prize, please go out to your mailbox and wait for the postal service to deliver it. <strong>

**Anyway, so, I'm gonna skip the "how'd you like it" bit and just let you tell me in the reviews you give me. You ARE gonna review, right...? Anyway, like how it always is, minus the reviewing part, favorite, tell friends, alert, and never let a monkey see your iPod. You will NEVER get it back... 'Til next time!  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, first, I'm sorry. Haha! It seems apologizing is becoming a recurring theme, here. Anyway, first, I'm sorry because this update is WAAAAAYYY overdue. Since my last update, I've gotten a new job and school got really crazy at the end of the year, so yada, yada, yada, new commitments and school and all that blah, blah, blah crap all took time from my writing, and then, on top of all that, this chapter was, quite frankly, a BITCH to write. So, here we are, FINALLY...  
><strong>

**Secondly, I'm sorry for being a dirty, filthy liar. Since my last update, I've told some of you, hopefully still, faithful readers that a) I would update my Who/Sonic crossover story shortly, and b) that I would have this done shortly, also. Obviously, neither of those were true. So, yeah, sorry...  
><strong>

**So, anyway, enough of me yammering. Read and enjoy.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Tails and Miles were sitting down at Tails' kitchen table when they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing down the hallway. They would have been slightly alarmed by this, and they almost were, except Brad strolled into the kitchen a few seconds later, putting them back at ease. The two twin-tail's watched as he made his way straight for the coffee pot on the other side of the room and poured himself a mug of the dark liquid.<p>

"So, I guess you had a good time last night," Tails said to him with a bitter tone.

"Hells yeah, I did," Brad replied, ignorant of the annoyance in his friend's voice as he sat down in the chair between them. "Took Miles, here, out on a bar crawl and we both met some pretty fine girls. If only you'd a-been there, Mi'. Might've found you one, too." He took a sip of his coffee, not catching the hard glare that Tails was shooting him across the table.

"Brad, what did you do when you met these girls?"

"Well, I took the girl I met home for a tour of my new apartment," he explained with an air of uncharacteristically cool confidence. "And I don't know what Miles did, but, knowing who he is, it was probably a lot naughtier than what I did last night." He flashed an expectant smile to the Moebian to his left.

"Well, he might have," started Tails. "If I hadn't walked in on him with the girl he met in _my bed_." Brad, who had started taking another sip of coffee, gasped and started to cough and sputter as the hot coffee he had accidentally inhaled irritated the inside of his trachea. After he had stopped coughing, he continued the laugh that had caused him to gasp in the hot beverage in the first place. Then, as he started to calm down, he looked over to Miles.

"Dude, why did you take her here? And in _his_ bed?" Miles rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair.

"And take the heat from him and the royal couple for staying the night in a hotel?" he retorted sarcastically. "Yeah, right."

"Well, I guess," replied Brad with an understanding nod.

"I'd a-been fine with it, if the chick hadn't robbed me."

"Wait, what?" Brad asked with a surprised, amused look at him. "She _robbed_ you?"

"I blame him," Miles said as he pointed at Tails, who cocked an eyebrow in confusion over the mug that was up to his mouth at the moment. "He didn't let me get dressed before he kicked me outta his room. Then he let the girl get dressed before she left. She musta picked my pockets while she was in there with my clothes."

"Wow, that sucks," remarked Brad amusedly. "But at least you got the money from Mi's cat burglar hunt." Miles gave a smug chuckle and a smile dawned on his face to match it as he looked sidelong at his Mobian twin, who put his mug down on the table and looked away awkwardly, averting his gaze from the two other foxes. When Brad saw this, he looked from one twin-tail to the other questioningly, his face slowly losing the amused expression it had previously been wearing. Finally, after no one responded to his glances of question, he decided to voice his concerns to them.

"Mi', what's up?"

"Yeah, _Mi'_, what's up?" Miles goaded. "Why don't you tell him why I don't have that money?" Tails slowly looked up at Brad with an apologetic expression.

"Brad," he said slowly. "I, kinda, didn't really catch the cat burglar yesterday."

"What?"

"Look, I'm sorry," Tails added quickly. "I followed her out to the parking lot, to her car, but that prick-forger ratted me out, and she was onto me. Clocked me out and put me in her van."

"So, what happened after that?"

"She wanted to take me down to Treasure Town and ransom me off to my parents or Sonic. I was barely able to escape."

"So, she's gone, then," sighed Brad disappointedly.

"Well, not quite," replied Tails. "I was able to take her new papers with me. She can't leave 'til she gets a new identity. That's gonna take a while. In the mean time, I've got some people looking for her."

"Who?"

"Cassie and another cat burglar."

"You know a cat burglar?"

"Well, maybe not exactly a 'cat burglar', per se, but she definitely has some criminal underworld connections, which is exactly what we want if we're looking for someone in Treasure Town."

"Can we trust her?"

"No!" snorted Miles amusedly before Tails could answer.

"Yes," Tails corrected frustratedly. "Normally, I wouldn't be so sure, but I think she can be trusted in this circumstance. There might be a small price, but it'll be worth it."

"Great, more of sharing the wealth," Brad groaned sarcastically. "Y'know, between her, this guy, and Cassie, we're probably gonna have under a grand to split between us after the job's done."

"Well, we can afford to go that route if it gets us in with Cassie's bondsman."

"Oh, is he still on board?"

"Yeah, Cass was able to persuade him to give us a second chance."

"Well, then we better get it right this time."

"Yeah, we better," Tails agreed as he stood up from the table and started walking to the door.

"Whoa, where're you going?" Brad asked confusedly. "I thought we'd all need to be here in case one of your diggers calls."

"It's fine, I can get back fast," replied Tails reassuringly. "I just wanted to go talk to Sonic about something."

"Oh, don't tell me you're trying with the Scourge-hunt thing again."

"I just wanna try one more time," Tails said as he started out again. "Who knows, I might be able to land us a consulting gig again."

"If you ask me, you're just wasting your time!" Brad called after him as he headed toward the front door.

"Whatever!" Tails called back with a chuckle. "Keep an eye on Miles while I'm gone!" The two foxes heard the door shut down the hall. Then, shortly afterwards, they heard it open again and Tails' voice called back to them "And that means no bars!"

* * *

><p>Tails walked casually along the large hallway that led to Sally's chambers. Really, he was looking for Sonic, but, since the hedgehog had just moved into the palace, he had no idea where his new room was, but he did know where to find the Princess, who would know where to find him. He reached out a fist to knock on the door, but stopped short when his ears were met with the sound of shouting echoing from inside the room behind it.<p>

"No way, Sal! Not happening!" came Sonic's angry, yelling tones. _Found him._

"Sonic-"

"No!" Sonic's voice cut Sally's off abruptly. "Sally, I can't even believe you're considering doing this, especially with _him_."

_What the hell are they talking about?_ Tails wondered silently as he leaned in closer to the door, nearly getting close enough to press his ear to it.

"Well, it's not like we have other options here, Sonic."

"Doesn't matter. This isn't an option we can take."

"We can't just leave things the way they're going right now."

"So, the solution is to just let him off scot-free?"

"We're not just letting him of _'scot-free'_-" _Who the hell is 'him'?_

"Well, then what do you wanna call it? Maybe 'clean slated'?"

"Well, I don't see _you_ coming up with any ideas, here!"

"Well, anything I'd come up with would be a better idea than this!"

"Oh, really, now?" _Uh-oh. Sonic could be in trouble now_.

"Yeah, _really_! First, I'd-"

"I don't wanna hear what you think is wrong with this plan, Sonic. I already know what you're gonna say-"

"You mean, like, how we're just gonna let him waltz around in our world unpunished? And after all he's done- all he's done to _us_?"

"Well, our hands are kinda tied here-"

"And then, on top of that, you wanna go and involve Tails in it, too?" _Whoa!_ _Wait!_ _What?_ "And just after we've gotten back on speaking terms."

"How else are we gonna cover this up, Sonic? It's not like we can throw him out there without any explanation as to who he is!"

"Well, let's not, then! Let's just throw him in a hole somewhere and forget about him until we can deal with him properly."

"Because _that's_ what we do with prisoners, huh?"

"Well, we need to figure out something to do with him, and it sure as hell ain't this!"

Tails listened as silence fell momentarily before the sound of quick, heavy footsteps on stone floors slowly increased in volume as they approached the door he was in front of. He quickly backed away a few steps and tried to look natural as the door was thrown open and a frustrated looking Sonic stormed out.

"Tails!" The hedgehog stopped abruptly when he spotted the fox waiting outside, letting out a surprised gasp as the frustration on his face was instantly replaced with a mixture of shock and embarrassment. Then he quickly caught himself and turned around to shut the door, turning back to his friend now with his usual cool, comfortable attitude. "Hey, there, lil bro, what's up?"

"Oh, I, uh, wanted to talk to you," Tails replied somewhat sheepishly, looking down at the floor and rubbing his neck a bit. _Way to stay cool._

"Hey, Tails, you didn't hear anything, there, did ya?" Sonic asked with a worried expression.

"Just you and Sally shouting at each other, but I couldn't make anything out."

"Okay, good," Sonic said, instantly reverting back to his cool demeanor. "Don't worry, it's all just politics, stuff like that. Y'know, stuff that's all boring, but somehow makes the best of friends fight like bitter enemies." He flashed the fox a quick smile. "But it's all top secret, hush-hush stuff, so, you hearing stuff could pose a problem."

"Right," Tails said with a quick nod. _Liar_.

_Oh, like you can talk_, he snapped back at himself.

"So, you wanted to talk?" He nodded at the hedgehog, who nodded slowly back and gestured down the hallway. "Cool, talk to me." He started on his way down the hall with Tails following at his side. "What's up, buddy?"

"Well, I just wanted to discuss the whole Scourge-hunt thing with you."

"What about it? I thought we already discussed it, Tails."

"Yeah, I know, I just wanna-"

"Look, I know you wanna, but we talked about this. You're not a Freedom Fighter anymore, Tails. This isn't any of your business. We could get in a lot of trouble for involving you."

"What about as a consulting gig?"

"Well, firstly, Elias hasn't approved of use of consultants, nor has anyone requested it or put forth a need for it, so, legally, you're not even sorta allowed in."

"And secondly?"

"Sally and I don't want you in on it." Tails shot him a confused look.

"Why not?"

"Because we think that your involvement, if there is any at all, is best put toward keeping an eye on the evil prisoner we don't officially have anything to do with."

"I thought you said Sally had a plan about that."

"Well, it didn't really work out. There were some issues that we just couldn't resolve."

"Hmm." Tails looked to him with a slightly suspicious gaze.

"So, until further notice, I want you to put keeping an eye on him at the top of your priority list, Tails. He's too dangerous to be left unsupervised, especially here, and you're the only one who can keep watch over him without people raising questions about it because no one will know you're doing it."

"Alright, sure," Tails sighed defeatedly.

"Look, dude." Sonic stopped and turned to the fox. "After we sort this mess out, I'll try and get you a spot on the team for this, but, until then, someone needs to watch over that evil, bastard twin of yours."

"Right, yeah, that makes sense." Tails nodded understandingly.

"Good, cool." They continued walking in silence down the hall. Awkward silence. Finally, Tails' discomfort with the situation became too intolerable to handle, so he decided to break the silence. "So, is it nice living here, in the palace?" Sonic looked at him thoughtfully before shrugging slightly and looking back down the hallway in front of him.

"Yeah, it's nice," he said nonchalantly.

"Where's your place?" The hedgehog turned slightly and pointed backwards over his shoulder.

"Other end of the palace, couple floors down," he said. "I'd show you, but I have somewhere I'm going right now." The fox nodded understandingly.

They came to the end of the hallway, where another one branched off to the right and a large, spiral staircase led down one of the palace's turrets. The two friends parted ways with a silent, farewell wave, Sonic continuing down the second hall while Tails started his way down the staircase as he silently pondered over the encounter he had just had.

* * *

><p>Cassie walked into the small, airport hanger, entering only to the sound of the faint clicks of a ratchet being turned. She looked at the blue biplane in the middle of the hanger, finding the source of the noise to be coming from the inside of the nose of the plane, where a small, metal hatch-door was hanging open over the top of the nose. Then she looked down at the file folder she was holding in her arm before setting it down on a nearby table and starting toward the plane. Then she quietly took a deep breath and cupped her hands around the outside of her mouth.<p>

"FIIIIIRRRRREEEE!"

"HOLY-!" There was a loud, dull thud that resounded from the top of the inside of the nose, followed by a series of metallic clangs of something metal dropping down through the innards of the plane.

Cassie burst out laughing as Tails poked his head over the top of the nose and flashed her an angry scowl.

"Damn it, Cass!" he growled as he rubbed his scalp. "You're worse than Brad sometimes!"

"Well, at least it's a rare occurrence that I ever show my mischievous side." She flashed him a smile and leaned up against the plane with her shoulder. "So, what's on your mind?" He shot her a confused glance as he climbed down from the plane and met her on the other side. He was wearing a light blue jumpsuit, like what mechanics wear.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's see, you lost a collar last night, but instead of looking for her, you're here, doing what you always do when you're being troubled by something."

"I don't _always_ come here when I'm 'troubled' by something."

"Felix Santeros, your third hunt, year-and-a-half ago." She held up a finger. "When I first found out that you came here. Then there was that time a year ago when you went through that whole 'mortality' phase after you got shot in the arm and almost died." She held up a second finger.

"Don't remind me," Tails groaned.

"Then there was, like, four months ago at New Years Eve." She held up a third finger.

"Brad still can't know about that!" Cassie let out a chuckle. "I'm just lucky he found a girl in that club that was willing to go with him after the countdown."

"Don't worry, I will be the only one who will ever hold this over your head." She gave him a smug smirk. "Although, I will give credit where credit is due. You definitely are an impressive dancer."

"Stop!"

"Especially on the bars of high-end clubs."

"Shut up!"

"I liked how you danced to 'Blow It Up' better than the dancers in the music video."

"CASS!"

"Alright! Sorry, I'll stop."

"So, what'd you come down here for?"

"Oh, I found your cat burglar."

"Really? How?"

"It's basically same plan as before, only you're gonna do it right this time."

"Ouch. Was that a shot?" Cassie nodded promptly.

"I have a file on her new paper guy." She pointed to the table by the door where the folder was laying. "He told me the time she was meeting him. This time, you, and someone who can pose as back up, are gonna go in _while_ she's with the forger, instead of after."

"Can we trust this guy?"

"Don't worry, I got some leverage on him," she said confidently. "Nothing big, but enough to keep him quiet."

"Okay, good."

"So, you never said what you're thinking through while you do this."

"Oh, I went down to the palace today to try and get in on the Scourge-case again," Tails explained quietly. "I heard Sonic and Sally arguing about what they're gonna do with Miles."

"Isn't that a good thing? It means they're discussing it and ruling out ideas." Tails shook his head.

"Didn't sound that simple, Cass."

"How so?"

"Well, first, part of the argument was that Sonic was telling Sally that the plan was basically to let him go."

"Like I said, they could just be ruling out ideas."

"Well, yeah, but then he said something about getting me involved."

"Well, of course you're gonna be involved. He's your doppelganger and he's staying at your place."

"Yeah, but he said it like it was gonna be bad, like it'd really piss me off."

"What'd he say?"

"He was like 'And right after we just got back on speaking terms', or something like that."

"Well, even if it's gonna piss you off, he was probably just mad or frustrated." Tails nodded thoughtfully. "And of course it's gonna piss you off. Look, no one places any blame on you for what you did with Miles, but you dug yourself a pretty complicated hole doing it. The options you guys have left, you're all going to have to do some unpleasant stuff to set things right again."

"Right." Tails nodded again. "Makes sense." He nodded to the file on the table. "So, when's he meeting Miss Dominade?"

"Time's in the file," Cassie answered curtly. "Who's Rouge?" Tails double-taked at the question.

"Huh?"

"Well, while I was digging around for you, I heard a few whispers about a certain ex-cat burglar who was asking about your collar." She gave the twin-tail an expectant look.

"Right." Tails looked down awkwardly. "Look, I just thought that with two different people looking around, more ground might get covered."

"Right, well, now I'm charging an extra five percent on this job." He shot his gaze back up at her.

"Wait, what?" She flashed him a smug smile.

"That's what you get for not trusting me," she replied in a singsong voice. She turned and started walking over to the file on the table, twisting back as she walked to add: "Oh, I like the new look, by the way." Tails smiled softly to himself as he rubbed the spot on his chin where his goatee-in-progress had been. "That goatee was starting to annoy me. You just weren't pulling it off right." He was about to reply to the comment, but was stopped by the sound of his phone ringing in the pocket of his jumpsuit. He pulled it out and looked at the caller ID.

"Oh, look, speak of the devil." Cassie, walking back to him with the file in hand, looked up at him curiously as he answered the phone and put it to his ear. "Hello, Rouge."

"Hello, Tails." The bat's usual, naturally seductive tone filled his ear.

"Rouge, you're a little late. My other digger just got me the info I needed. So, I'll still pay you, but don't expect me to call you again." He smiled at Cassie, who rolled her eyes.

"Aw, that's just too bad."

"Yeah, well-"

"That means that I have some competition, now."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me, Tails." Cassie watched him confusedly as he started to take on a worried expression. "See, I was intrigued by the idea of a five grand bounty hunt from the minute you told me. But, since I'm not totally dishonorable, I thought I'd call you up and give you fair warning."

"You bitch!"

"Miles, language! So, anyway, now that you know, apparently, where your collar is, I guess I better just warn you to stay outta my way, instead."

"Oh, you little-!"

"Ta-ta!" Tails started sputtering as he heard the line go dead in his ear, finally finishing with stuffing the phone back in his pocket and banging a fist on the side of his biplane angrily.

"What's wrong?" The twin-tail looked up at her with an irritated look.

"We have a problem."

* * *

><p>"Miles!" Tails allowed Cassie to walk past him into the apartment and shut the door behind him. He followed her into the kitchen to find both Brad and Miles at the table, kicked back in their chairs with their feet up.<p>

"Look, dude, whatever it was you think I did, I guarantee that I didn't." Miles rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, indifferent and uninterested in why Tails was so angry.

"No, you didn't do anything."

"Good, we're on the same page, th-"

"I need your help." Miles shot him a confused look.

"What's up, Mi'?" Brad asked concernedly.

"Rouge the Bitch turned on us," Tails growled angrily. "She's on her way down to Treasure Town, if she isn't already there, to take our bounty for herself."

"What!" Miles began to chuckle amusedly while Brad just stared at his partner with a dropped jaw.

"I told you, you shouldn't have trusted her."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can save it for later, Miles. Point is, I need you to come help me beat Rouge to the punch on this. You're the only one who can keep up with me at my fastest and I can't go into this alone."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up." Miles stood up to meet Tails at eye level, giving him a smart smirk. "You seem to forget that I'm not a part of this whole bounty hunting thing you got going here. I'm just your little, secret prisoner. As far as I'm concerned, your little bail jumper cat burglar can dance across the border while you watch. Yesterday was a onetime thing, and look what happened with yesterday, too. I came out with nothing! So, you can forget me helping you again." He turned on his heel and headed for the door without another word.

"Three grand!"

"Wait, what?"

Miles stopped and threw a smug glance over his shoulder at his Mobian twin, cocking an annoyingly questioning eyebrow.

"What was that?"

"Three grand, the full price you were promised yesterday. You can have it, you just have to help me with this."

"Miles!" Brad watched speechlessly from the table on the sidelines of the negotiations.

"Wow, you really are desperate, aren't you?" Miles turned back around to face the other twin-tail.

"Sure, whatever you want, just help, okay?" Miles watched him silently as he thought the proposal over.

"Fine," he agreed finally. "But I get a gun."

"Done."

"What! Done?"

"And none of the pansy, rubber bullet crap you guys were doing yesterday."

"Don't push it. There's no chance in hell I'm giving _you_ real ammunition." Tails fished a couple pistols out of a kitchen drawer and handed one to Miles.

"Whoa! Mi'! What are you doing?" Brad, who had finally caught up with what was happening, quickly caught up with Tails and stopped him from walking out the door with Miles. "Three grand! Are you crazy? That only leaves two for us and Cassie."

"And at a six grand total for the jobs, you guys owe me twelve hundred," Cassie cut in. Brad shot her a look of exasperation.

"What? Twelve hundred?" He turned back to Tails. "When did it become twelve hundred?"

"Don't ask." Tails hung his head down in annoyance. "I don't wanna talk about it." He looked up at Brad. "Look, Brad, what do you want me to do? We _need_ this job. This isn't about the money, here."

"Okay, so what am I supposed to do while you and the evil twin fly down to Treasure Town?"

"Take the van down after us. We won't be able to carry her back on our own."

"What?" Brad caught him by the shoulder as he made a second attempt to leave, turning him back around and giving him a stern look. "Okay, first you give away basically all our money and then you ditch me for your evil twin and tell me to drive the van to pick up your collar?"

"Look, Brad, I'm sorry, but there's no other play right now and no time to come up with a better one." Brad opened his mouth again to argue, but stopped and thought his partner's argument over. After a moment, he gave up with a defeated sigh.

"You owe me _big_." Tails nodded sternly and started out the door again. Brad followed him out and closed the door behind him.

Cassie looked around the empty kitchen she had been left in, slightly confused. After a moment of thinking, she turned and headed for the fridge, taking a beer out and popping the cap off to take a sip.

* * *

><p>"So, this'll get me outta the country?"<p>

"Um- Yeah, yeah, b- but o- o- only the border in the city. If you try to go anywhere else, then the c- cops will, y'know, hear about it." Lorena looked down at the short, brown furred otter sitting behind the counter.

"Gavin, you've been very jumpy with me today." The otter looked up at her with a slightly nervous smile.

"Ha- Have I, M- Miss Dominade?" She smiled back somewhat deviously.

"Yes, Gav, you have." She put the folder she was holding down on the counter. "Mind telling me why?"

"Uh..." The otter stared up at her blankly, then his eyes started darting every which way as he tried to think of an answer.

"Well, sweetie," a seductive tone cut in from behind the cat. "He's nervous because he knows you're not the only threatening one here." Lorena's gaze jolted over her shoulder, finding a white bat in a skin-tight outfit that had a big, pink heart on the chest standing behind her, wielding a gun that was trained right on the back of her skull.

"I'm sorry, Miss Dominade!" The otter burst out hysterically. "I'm sorry I ratted you out, but that psycho bat came in here with a gun to my head and I flipped! And- and- and- and then I was _not_ gonna let that fox bitch send me back to jail for you, I am _not_ going back to jail and-!"

"SHUT UP!" Lorena quickly drew a small, silver pistol and stuck it up to the otter's face. "God! Isn't there any way to just get _one_ private meeting with a decent paper forger?"

"Whoa! Wait!" She looked back to Rouge, who was watching the otter suspiciously.

"What?"

"Gavin, you said something about a fox?"

"Yeah," the otter replied quickly. "There was some bitch who called me earlier on my computer. She was a fox. Showed me some stuff she said she could send me to jail with if I didn't cooperate."

"Wait." Lorena looked back at the otter. "She was a fo...?" She looked away, realization dawning on her. "Oh, shit."

Suddenly, everyone's attention was forced to the front of the store as the front door was kicked open loudly, swinging around and slamming into the wall with a CRASH! Following the door quickly was Tails, rushing in and leading with his gun, which was trained carefully on Rouge.

"Drop it, bitch! She's mine."

"Oh, you, too? Damn it, you little snitch-!"

"AUGH!" Lorena's angry outburst against the otter was cut short by the frightened cry of the forger himself. Everyone's gaze turned to him at the shriek, where all eyes fell upon the sight of Gavin the Otter in a headlock of a hostage grasp that was being delivered by none other than Miles, who had his gun pointed directly at Lorena, who only responded with a dumbfounded stare as she held her aim on the otter.

"Holy shit, there are two of you?" She shot Tails an exasperated look.

"My, my, my, Tailsy," Rouge remarked in a relishing tone. "What tangled webs we weave, eh? I mean, the king told us that the Moebians were in town, but he didn't say that you guys had one working for you."

"Not working for them, bitch," Miles objected sharply as he tightened his grip on his hostage, who responded with a soft whimper. "Just trying to make a buck or two so I can make a place for myself in my new home. We need her-" He nodded at Lorena, who gave him an angry scowl and directed her weapon up at him. "-for the money."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, sweetie." The bat flicked her gaze to the twin-tail behind her. "But Tails, here, can tell you that I don't let valuable things get away from me without a fight." Lorena shot the bat a malevolent smile.

"Then a fight there shall be." She looked back at Miles, aiming at him down the sights of her pistol and bracing her aim for the gun's kickback.

Miles saw the attack coming and reacted, ducking down and pushing his otter hostage forward, leaving him to be the only target for Lorena as she squeezed off two consecutive shots.

As the otter's body toppled to the floor, dead, Miles took the opportunity to vault over the counter, aiming a swift, swiping kick that knocked the pistol out of Lorena's hand.

Meanwhile, Tails and Rouge we're in their own scuffle, one in which they had both managed to lose hold of their weapons. Tails had almost been able to end the fight himself, launching his elbow at the bat's face for a knock-out win, but the attack failed when Rouge's knee sharply buried itself into his stomach. Currently, Tails was on his hands and knees, gasping for the breath that had been robbed of him, along with his energy to fight, by the impact that his abdomen had received. The only thing that was actually holding him from toppling to the floor was his opponent's grasp on the scruff of his neck. He was barely able to muster up the energy to lift his head to look up, just in time to see a black, high-heel boot speeding at his face before his vision blacked out and he lost all sense of direction, equilibrium, and feeling in his face.

Everything went black. The world felt like it was spinning and the only sounds that Tails could hear we're soft echoes that sounded like they were a mile away; shouts, thuds, smacks, all being silenced by the loud _BANG_ of a gunshot, followed by a sharp, female scream.

Tails snapped up from his position on the floor, reacting to the sound of the gunshot. He looked around, his first objective being to find a weapon to defend himself with, but he stopped himself when he noticed the scene that had unfolded before him.

Lorena was now on the ground, sat up against the wall, cringing with pain as she grasped her shoulder, which seemed to be bleeding slightly from under her hand. Between him and her stood Miles and Rouge in a standoff, Miles with Tails' own pistol trained on Rouge, who had her hands raised by her head in surrender, eyes directed skyward and jaw set in an expression of annoyance.

"Well, don'cha think you should patch up your collar before she bleeds out?" Rouge asked Miles with an acid glare. Miles smirked smartly.

"Oh, don't worry, it's just a flesh wound. Rubber bullets." The bat let out a small, amused laugh.

"I didn't know Moebians were such pansies. What kind of a bounty hunter uses _rubber_ bullets?"

"Well, Rouge, you probably could guess how I am about killing." She turned to look behind her at the snarky reply, coming face-to-face with the barrel of her own pistol, which was being held by Tails, who had managed to get up off the floor and sneak his way up behind the cornered bat. "But, y'know, I am willing to make an exception now and then, if it's absolutely necessary." He gave her a smirk, but she only gave a laugh in response.

"That's funny. _You_ kill _me_?" She leaned in closer to Tails, giving him a challenging glare. "I don't think you have the stones." Tails rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, Rouge? You really wanna play 'Can He Pull the Trigger?' right now? Over _her_?" He nodded to Lorena. "C'mon, she's not worth it. Just give up. You're outnumbered _and_ outgunned, here." Rouge watched him silently as she thought for a moment. Then she gave a small sigh and put her hands down, placing them on her hips.

"Fine. You win."

"Good. Now put this on." He drew a large zip-tie out of his back pocket and offered it to her. She took it, tied it, and tightened it around her wrist.

"Okay, there." She showed him her bound wrists. "Now, call off the evil twin." Tails nodded and holstered his gun in the back of his pants.

"Miles!" The Moebian, still with his gun trained on Rouge, looked over to Tails. "Put it away."

"Why, 'cause you tied her wrists?" he asked with a defiant tone. "No way. She's still a threat."

"It's okay, she won't try anything." Tails flicked a thoughtful gaze to the bat. "She's done, here, Miles. Like I said, it's not worth it to her." Miles held his ground as he thought it over, but finally lowered his weapon a few moments later, glowering threateningly at the bat as he did so.

"Try anything, bitch, and I'll drop you before you can raise a hand to strike." Rouge smirked at him.

"What, with your _rubber_ bullets?" Miles stiffened slightly and shot Tails an exasperated glare. Tails rolled his eyes in response before walking over to the wounded Lorena on the floor across the room, looking down at her with a smile.

"Well, good for you, fox-boy," Lorena groaned sarcastically. "You caught me. Now, can you just knock me out so I don't have to sit through the six hour car ride back? Oh, don't worry. I'll think about maybe saying a nice thing or two about your brother when I testify at his murder trial." She nodded to the dead otter's body on the floor by the counter.

"What are you talking about?" Tails asked with mock-cluelessness. "You're the one who killed him."

"Well, yeah, I might have fired the shots," the cat replied with a nod. "But, y'know, your brother was the one with a gun on me first, and he was the one using a live hostage as a shield, I fired completely out of self-defense." She gave him a smart smile, only for it to disappear as she cringed in pain and grabbed her wounded arm.

"Y'know, that story _might_ have worked, if you hadn't killed poor Gavin, over there. See, because the only witnesses worth _trusting_ are in agreement that you killed him in cold blood before we came to catch you."

"What?"

"'Cause, I mean, look at it. As it stands, like you said, you fired the shots that killed him, from your own gun, which is probably _full_ of DNA from your fur, and you're the criminal-on-the-run, here, which means that the cops will _never_ buy your story. Isn't that right, Miles?" Tails cocked his head back at the other twin-tail.

"Oh, yeah," Miles started as he came to Tails' side. "'Cause she is, like you said, on the run, meeting with a career forger, who was obviously a squealer, which means he was a risky loose end that needed to be tied up. Unfortunately for him, we got here just a little too late to stop her."

"Seriously?" Lorena cried out, cringing again with the pain as she did so. "You're already taking me in for robbery, but now you want to pin a murder on me, too?" Tails smiled down at her evilly as he bent down to her level.

"That's for trying to kidnap and ransom me off, bitch." He drew back and launched his fist into her cheek, immediately sending her into unconsciousness. Then he stood back up and sighed softly as he turned around to face Rouge and Miles.

"Well, Tails, I have to admit, I'm impressed. You've come a pretty good way since I saw you last, what, six years ago?"

"Our team-up for Robotnik's take down." Tails remembered with a thoughtful look on his face. "Been a while."

"Yeah. It has."

"Okay." Tails looked to Miles and drew another zip-tie out of his pocket. "Here, you tie up the cat and call Brad to see how long 'til he gets here." He turned back to Rouge. "You and me, we need to talk." He motioned her to follow him as he headed for the kicked-in front door. She followed him outside and found him waiting for her, leaning against the corner of the building.

"What's up, short stuff?"

"Rouge, I need you to keep this whole thing with Miles quiet. You can't tell G.U.N., you can't tell anyone, or Sonic, Sally, and I could get in a lot of trouble."

"Well, y'know, I just _love_ a cover-up," Rouge replied sarcastically. "But before I even think about keeping my mouth shut about anything, I need to know what's going on. Why's he here, Tails?"

"He's technically my prisoner," Tails explained. "See, he, Scourge, and Fiona came to cause some trouble, and we caught him and Fiona, but there's some legal red tape that's keeping us from locking him up."

"What could possibly be keeping you from throwing his ass in jail?" Rouge asked disbelievingly.

"Well, after I was taken prisoner by Scourge and Fiona, I kinda made a deal with him that said he wouldn't go to prison if he helped me break out and rescue Sonic."

"So, just break the deal!"

"I can't! It's not just a deal anymore, it's more of a verbal contract now."

"What? How?"

"Well, when I went with Sonic to go after Scourge, I wasn't really sanctioned by the Freedom Fighters at the time. Sonic and Sally lied and said I was a consultant on the case, which made me a Freedom Fighter affiliate. There's a law that says any promises made by a Freedom Fighter to a prisoner or victim in a Freedom Fighter case or mission constitutes a binding verbal contract between the prisoner and the Fighter."

"But Miles wasn't a prisoner!"

"Yes, he was. He and I were locked up in the same cage. He was there being forced to work under Scourge's threat of torture."

"Okay, so, how do you know he's not playing you, then?"

"Well, that did occur to me, but, while Miles is probably that devious, I don't think Scourge would ever try something like that, especially if it was Miles' plan."

"Okay, so, you're going on a hunch, there."

"Look, I don't really have a lot of options, here, Rouge!" The bat sighed, cradling her forehead in her palm as she did so. Tails watched as she turned the newly learned information over in her head.

"Okay, Tails," she finally spoke up. "I'll stay quiet, _for a while_. But if you guys don't deal with him soon, I'm gonna tell anyone who needs to know, especially G.U.N."

"You don't even work for G.U.N. anymore," Tails argued back.

"Look, just tell the royal couple to get it in gear and come up with a solution quickly. Even I'm not comfortable with this, Tails. You especially should know that he's the most dangerous out of them all. Him running around with you like this is gonna turn out bad eventually."

"Yeah, I know. Look, we'll come up with something soon, just give us some time, okay?" Rouge rolled her eyes in annoyance before nodding reluctantly. Then she held out her wrists that were still bound together by the zip-tie.

"Can you at least cut me loose now? I'm not gonna do anything to take your collar, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Tails took a knife out of his pocket and cut the tie, freeing the bat's wrists.

"Thank you," she breathed in relief as rubbed her wrists lightly. "Well, I'll see you later, foxy. Remember, fix this Miles problem quick, or I'll tell someone who will." She gave him a grave look as she took to the air with her wings and flew away. Then Tails' attention was torn away from the bat's flight by the sound of his phone ringing in his pocket. He pulled it out and put it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tails," Sonic's voice answered. "Where are you?"

"Treasure Town, collaring a bail jumper. Don't worry, Miles is with me, I'm keeping him under control."

"That's... Good, I guess. Look, when do you think you'll be back?"

"Uh... Maybe seven? Why?"

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you at your apartment when you get back."

"Wait! Why?"

"Well, Sal and I found a solution for our little problem."

"Well, that's good."

"Yeah, don't be too sure on that. We're sorta down to a last resort, Tails."

"Well, what kind of last resort?"

"Um... Look, just get here as soon as you can. I'll explain in person."

"That sounds reassuring."

"Yeah, well, I'll see ya in a while, 'kay?"

"Yeah, okay. Bye." Tails heard the line go dead and put his phone away, looking up at the spot in the sky where Rouge had disappeared in her flight. "Looks like that solution came sooner than you thought it would." He turned away and walked back into the shop, where he found Miles starting out with Lorena over his shoulder.

"Okay, so, Brad's about an hour out by car, up in Lion's Den. I told him to wait out there for us. Figured we could carry this bitch that far at least, right?" Tails nodded an affirmative. "So, where'd the bat go?"

"She's gone. Won't bother us anymore." Miles gave him a startled look, which slowly turned into one of slight approval.

"Wow. I didn't know you had it in you. It was probably a little unnecessary, but oh, well. Nothing to do now. Did you at least hide her body well?" Tails double-taked at him.

"What? No! I didn't kill her, I let her go."

"Oh, well, in that case, I'm not really that surprised, then."

"Well, Miles, what can I say, I'm not like you." He turned to the corpse that was lying next to the counter on the other side of the room. "Call the cops before we leave. Tell them about the body. The bondsman will explain the rest after we drop Miss Dominade off." He turned to the door, but stopped short and turned back to Miles with a warning glare. "Oh, and I'll let it slide this time, since the vic was a sleezebag and you didn't actually shoot him, but if you ever get another innocent civilian killed, I'll throw you to the dogs."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," Miles muttered indifferently as he took his phone out and started past Tails to the door. "C'mon, let's get outta here and get my money." Tails rolled his eyes and sighed as he followed his evil doppelganger out the door.

* * *

><p>"Hey! Sonic! You here?"<p>

"Do we really have to do this now? I'm exhausted. Driving down the kingdom and back _and_ taking down a particularly troublesome collar all in one day is pretty exhausting."

"Tails! I'm in here!" Tails flipped the lights on in his front hallway as he locked his front door behind him. He turned to look where Sonic's call had come from and saw that the lights from the kitchen were shining out into the hallway. Miles, who was groaning tiredly, and probably a little annoyedly, and leaning against the wall to support himself, rolled his eyes and pushed himself fully back onto his feet to follow his counterpart as he started down the hall.

Tails came in to find Sonic and Sally waiting at the kitchen table, on which laid in front of them a small stack of two or three manila folders, each slightly filled with paper. He started to take a seat across from them, but stopped short when he noticed a figure standing in the shadows behind the royal couple that he hadn't noticed before. He immediately recognized the surly looking skunk as Geoffrey St. John, the king's head of security.

"What's he doing here?" Tails asked Sonic with a nod in the skunk's direction.

"Did you think that the king would let them meet with an enemy to the state without protection?" St. John cut in before Sonic could answer, stepping forward slightly, making himself more visible in the light. Tails glared at him.

"I would think that Sonic is protection enough." He looked to the hedgehog expectantly, who sighed softly.

"Elias insisted that a little extra security couldn't do much harm."

"So he sent him?" Miles cut in as he entered the kitchen, stopping at Tails' side. He crossed his arms across his chest and smirked. "Not much for security. You could bind and gag me and I'd still be able to take this bitch out." St. John snarled at the fox.

"Well, you've got the start of a good plan there." The skunk looked like he was ready to show Miles exactly how good of a plan it was, but Sally intervened before he could decide whether or not to act.

"Okay, guys, settle down," she commanded. "We're here to talk, not kill each other." She turned in her seat to look at St. John. "St. John, stand down." The skunk obeyed and took a step back into the shadows.

"Yeah, boy, stand down," Miles repeated the command as he sat down with Tails.

"Miles, shut up," Tails growled under his breath. Miles rolled his eyes.

"Well, what do you guys expect? Civility?" The Moebian glared across the table at Sonic and Sally. "I'm basically here to be sentenced, aren't I? I mean, you guys are breaking the deal Tails made with me, right? Not to say, I'm surprised, though. I'm more surprised he even kept it, let alone that you let him, and this long, at that."

"Well, sorry, but it's not like we were just gonna let you go free just like that." Tails looked over to Sally and Sonic. "So, go on guys. Let's hear what you've got." Sally flashed a look to Sonic before looking back at the pair of foxes, giving a soft sigh as she did so.

"Well," she started hesitantly as she took one of the files from the stack in front of her. "Miles, you're right, this is a sentencing." She slid the file across the table to him. "But not in the way that you two think it is."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miles asked confusedly as he took the file from her and opened it up to read.

"Yeah, Sal, what's that mean?" Tails repeated the question.

"Well, Tails, it means that, what with the situation we're all in, here, we had to compromise on some of the ideal terms of Miles' arrest."

"Like what kinds of terms?"

"Holy shit." They looked to Miles, who had a dumbstruck look on his face as he leafed through the papers in the file. He stopped and looked up at Sally. "Is this what I think it is?"

"What?" Tails grabbed the file out of his counterpart's hands and started looking through it. "This is a birth certificate for Leo..." His gaze bolted up at Sally before he could finish. "Leon Prower?" He went back to looking through the file before Sally could start explaining. "Records from an orphanage in Mercia, medical records, dental records, financial records, all of them for a 'Leon Prower'." He looked back up at Sally. "What the hell is this?" Sally sighed again, averting her gaze from Tails'.

"It's the makings of a-"

"Forged identity, I know," the fox finished. "But why?"

"Take a look at what's clipped to the back cover of the file," Miles cut in before Sally could answer. Tails flipped to the back cover and found a small card paper-clipped to the file.

"A Kingdom ID card for Leon Prow-" He stopped when he looked at the picture on the card. It was a picture of Miles, only it looked like him from what he might have looked like several years ago as a teenager. He looked back up at Sally, yet again, an expression of betrayal on his face. "No..."

"Tails, look-"

"You had better have a good explanation for this, Sally, because I don't know what you're thinking with this," he growled angrily at the princess as he smacked the file down in front of her. "But I'm sure as hell not liking it so far."

"Tails, I told you we had to compromise a bit about what we wanted to do, here. You know the situation we're in, we needed to come up with a good offer to give so that we could settle things quietly."

"Whoa, wait, what situati-"

"Shut up!" Tails and Sonic gave the command to the Moebian in unison, stopping him talking immediately.

"Look, Tails, I warned you that this was a last resort-"

"This isn't _any_ kind of resort, Sonic," Tails interrupted, standing up from his seat and taking a step away from the table. "Just what exactly was the plan, here?"

"Well, you've heard of house arrest, right?" Sally started. "Think of this as life arrest. We build him a fake identity in this world as your long-lost twin brother and let him live here. Meanwhile, he's kept under certain living restrictions and watched by the biggest and best security measures we can drum up."

"Oh, and how exactly did you think you would sell this cover-up when you know I'd _never_ sign on for this? And not only that, but there were other people there when I was born. How were you gonna get them to sign on, too?"

"We're in the middle of negoti-"

"And you, St. John," Tails continued, looking to the skunk in the shadows. "How are you even here, right now, allowing _this_ to happen right under your nose?" The skunk narrowed his eyes at the fox, letting out a menacing growl. Then he stopped and slowly inhaled and exhaled to calm himself down.

"I gave my _vehement_ opinions to the king about what we should do with the prisoner, but he insisted that the princess's plan was reasonable and necessary, God knows why."

"Well, it's nice to know that Elias is on board as well," Tails remarked sarcastically. "And a fat lot of good you were, then. The one time you could have been useful to the Kingdom and you went and let them all castrate you."

"Tails!" Sonic objected. "Listen-"

"No, you listen. Because like I said, I'm _never_ agreeing to this. I'm not gonna let you just induct this little prick into my family. And no matter how well you can sell it, I know you can't without my say so. So I'll _listen_ when you guys have a less convoluted and less insulting idea than this." He turned for the door.

"Where are you going?" Sonic called after him.

"Out!" He exited the room and started for the front door. "I have better things to do than listen to you guys pitch a lost cause! I'll trust you to lock up and take the dog home with you!" The slamming of a door echoed through the apartment.

"That little punk," St. John growled angrily. "You want me to go after him, Princess?"

"No, it's fine," Sally answered calmly. "I didn't expect him to take it well, anyway."

"Okay, well, even though he thinks it's a lost cause, I don't. Yet." Miles sat up in his chair and smiled slightly at the two. "So, why don't we discuss this little deal here and now, and worry about him later." Sally nodded and took the file that Tails had slammed down, opened it, and placed it in front of Miles.

"Well, as we already established, this is going to be your new identity," she began quietly. "Your cover story. You're gonna be Miles Prower's long-lost twin brother. You've already been seen around town with Tails a little, so you'll keep that going on for a while, while we 'dig around' about you and 'discover' that you are, in fact, Tails' brother. At that point, we'll hold a press conference announcing you as such. The Prowers will tell their story about you and how you were lost and then you can do a couple interviews. Afterwards, you can go on with your new life here. You may be bugged by the press for a short time after, but they'll go away eventually." Miles nodded thoughtfully as she finished and then closed the file and handed it back to her.

"Sounds like a nice plan, I guess, but you said that the Prowers would tell their story. What story would that be, exactly?"

"Well, I don't know about what happened in the Antiverse, but here, Tails was born on the day of Robotnik's coup, so any written record of the event was lost in the chaos that ensued. Even the Prowers themselves were lost, and the only reason Tails even survived was because he was brought to Knothole by our nanny, Rosie. So, after they were brought to Argentium, the Prowers had no idea what happened to _either_ of their sons during the coup. Then, after Sonic found them and told them about Tails, they were both overjoyed to learn that one of their sons had survived. Now, when it's discovered that his twin's alive as well, it'll just be joyous surprise: part two." Miles was silent again as he thought over the story after she finished.

"Sounds like a fine story, then, so long as they can sell it well enough. Now, what I wanna know is how you're gonna get them on board. Because you got them and Tails, and, as Tails pointed out, the other people who witnessed the birth. How are you gonna tie up all these loose ends you have?"

"You don't need to worry about the loose ends," Sonic interjected quickly. "That's our business."

"Okay, sorry, whatever," Miles replied sarcastically. "So, now, last question: Just how badly do I have you guys by the balls right now?"

"Hey!"

"No offense, princess."

"No, no, it's all right." She sat up to pull Sonic, who had stood up at the comment, back down into his seat.

"Because, first, you two and Tails have all talked about our '_situation_', and then, even so, you guys hate me too much to just hand me a second chance like this. So, what exactly have I got on you to warrant you guys working so hard to keep me out of prison?" Sally looked over to Sonic again, same hesitant look as before, and then looked back up at Miles.

"You were Scourge's prisoner, weren't you?" Miles nodded. "And Tails promised you that you wouldn't go to prison, right?" Nod. "Well, when he went into that operation with Sonic, it wasn't an official mission and he certainly wasn't sanctioned for work as a Freedom Fighter consultant. So, we lied and said that he was sanctioned-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, get to the point," Miles interrupted impatiently.

"There's a law that constitutes a legal, verbal contract whenever a Freedom Fighter, or affiliate thereof, makes a commitment of any sort to a victim, such as a prisoner, of their current case or operation."

"So, if Tails promises to keep me out of prison, then I stay out of prison."

"Exactly."

"So, then, not to argue against my own case, but why not just out your lie and nullify the contract because he wasn't a Freedom Fighter affiliate?"

"Because that's exactly what we don't want to do. If we out that cover, Tails could go to jail for interference in Kingdom affairs."

"So, you're setting up an elaborate cover-up, not to mention giving me a second chance, all so little fox-boy doesn't have to go to jail for a few months?" He gave them a questioning look. "Why?"

"Again, not your concern," Sonic replied acidly.

"Right, whatever," Miles dismissed. "So, the only matter of business left is if I sign or not."

"We strongly recommend you sign," Sally said.

"Yeah, but what exactly am I signing?" He cocked an eyebrow at them.

"Well, first-" Sally took the file of documents from him and handed him the next in the pile. "-the standard confidentiality agreement, saying you won't tell anyone about any of this, etcetera, etcetera. Then-" She handed him the last file "-an extensive contract that does a few things to set up this whole deal, here. First, it sets up the guidelines you'll have to live by for the rest of your life. Living restrictions, territorial restrictions, criminal restrictions, and security restrictions."

"Wow. You two are gonna have me live a very _restricted_ life, huh?"

"You deserve a lot worse," Sonic growled contemptuously.

"_Anyway_," Sally cut back in. "It's basically stuff like curfews, where you can and can't live and travel, what crimes will and won't bust this deal up for you, and the security measures that will be implemented to make sure you're a good boy."

"I'm guessing there're a lot of them?"

"I wrote them out myself," St. John interjected from his nook in the shadows. "Takes up half a page." Miles rolled his eyes and slumped back in his chair as Sally continued.

"Now, as this deal isn't just a temporary thing that's going to end soon, as time goes by, if you behave, we can start to negotiate some of the terms of the contract to give you a little more freedom, but for now, this is what ya get." Miles nodded his understanding. "But there is one term of the contract that we won't budge on. There's a condition that says that if you break any part of the deal, you commit a crime you aren't allowed to, you break confidence about this, you step out of line and break this deal, you wave your right to a trial of any kind."

"So that your cover-up doesn't get revealed," Miles added. "I break the contract, I disappear into thin air and no one ever sees me again. No one ever knows that I'm actually an inter-zonal war criminal and enemy of the state and Tails gets to stay out of prison."

"Meanwhile, you're in zone jail the next day for the rest of your life, probably on the "rush" list for the executioner," Sonic added with a smile. Miles returned the smile with a sarcastic one of his own and took the contract from Sally and began to leaf through it.

"Is it okay if I read through this first?"

"Go ahead," Sally replied. "Have Tails call us when you want to sign it. Don't take too long, though." Miles nodded as he continued to skim the document. Then he placed it back on the table and looked back up at the royal couple.

"Well, I may not sign for quite some time, though."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked.

"Well, you both have your 'terms and conditions', here, but I also have one of my own."

"Well, see, Miles, you're not in a position to do any negotiating at all," Sonic argued.

"That's too bad," Miles countered forcefully. "Because this isn't something I'm negotiating. It's a condition, laid out as one term and one term only. Non-negotiable."

"And what term is this?" Sally asked.

"What's the plan for capturing Scourge?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because that's my condition." Sonic and Sally were both silent as they thought over the fox's proposition for a second before Sally promptly answered.

"Once we find him, we'll capture him and whoever he's working for and they'll both be held here in unconscious stasis until Zone Jail's rebuilt. Then they'll be extradited to Zone Jail, where Scourge will most likely be executed."

"Great, sounds good," Miles remarked. "Once you guys have that done, I'll gladly sign your little deal, here."

"Wait, what?"

"That's my condition. I don't sign until Scourge is dead. One way or another, I need to see a green, spiny corpse before I put a pen to that contract of yours."

"Whoa, no way!" Sonic objected. "This is our deal, pal. You haven't got any power to make ultimatums, here. You either sign, or we throw your ass to the dogs, regardless of what happens to Tails."

"Whoa, wait, Sonic!" Sally stopped him. She looked to Miles with a curious expression. "Why?"

"Well, that's none of your concern, is it, Princess?" Sally was silent for a few moments before she reached over and gathered up the documents on the table, leaving the contract in front of Miles as she did so.

"Fine," she said as she put the files away in a briefcase, which St. John took from her after she had finished. "Scourge dies, you sign. Deal?" Miles nodded firmly.

"Deal."

"Wait, What?" Sonic looked to Sally in exasperation. "Sal, no, that could take months!"

"No, it won't. Scourge has no reason to hide, now that we know he's here. He's bound to come out for us sometime, and it'll be soon, if his patience is anything like yours. We wait for him to come for us and then we take him out in battle. After that, Miles signs the contract and we're all set."

"Nice plan, there," Miles remarked smugly.

"Yeah, I know," Sally replied acidly. She looked to St. John, who was now waiting by her side. "Agent St. John, cuff the prisoner."

"What?" Miles backed away as St. John came at him with handcuffs.

"You heard Tails, he won't be coming back for a while. Told us to take you home with us, so that's what we're doing."

"Oh, c'mon," Miles groaned as St. John tightened the cuffs around his wrists. "Can't you just leave me for one night. I promise I won't get into trouble."

"No." Sally started for the door, followed by Sonic at her side and St. John behind her, dragging Miles along.

"Well, are the cuffs totally necessary, though?"

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so, there it is. Kind of a controversial ending, right? Anyway, that part, the ending, was what made this chapter so hard to write. It was kind of difficult covering all the details I had to in an attempt to make it convincing realistically. How'd I do? <strong>

**So, yeah, that's the end of the part of the story where we focus on Tails' life as a bounty hunter. Well, the first part. For now, we're going back to the main storyline with Scourge and his evil, magic friend. But don't worry. I do plan to dive back into some more of the bounty hunting life, for some of the people who want to see more of that. But I'll save that for later. **

**Now, for the bad news. While I've been away, I've had some inspirations for original stories of my own and I've been meaning to entertain those for a while. I mean, c'mon, that's what this site is for, growing as a writer, right? Anyway, just to make it clear, I will NOT let this story die. I WILL see it to the end, however long it takes. But I'm giving warning right now that I am going to be focusing on other stories for the time being and probably won't be updating here for a while. So, don't think for a minute I've deserted this story, just remember I'm taking a break for a bit and WILL be back eventually. **

**So, until next time, tell me what you thought of this chapter, because I really wanna know. Leave a review, favorite and alert the story, and definitely tell any sonic-loving friends you have. Also, always remember, the common housecat will devour your body before your cold. Just food for thought. Bye! **


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello! Welcome to another severely overdue chapter of Bounty Hunters! This installment has been brought to you by Operation: Getting My Shit Together; getting lazy people to work for over two weeks now! **

**Anyway, no apologizing this time, since I did warn you that I wouldn't be updating for a while. So, yeah, straight to the reading! Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Miles, wake up!"<p>

"Huh...? Wha...? Mmm..."

"Wake up!"

"Oh, shit, what? Wha- What time is it?"

"Seven."

"Seven? In the morning, seven?"

"Yes."

"You ass!" The Moebian shoved his face into his pillow and growled angrily. He was NOT a morning person. At least, not when he didn't need to be. "I can' bi'eve you woe me ugh ah se'en!" His angry whining was muffled by the pillow his muzzle was still buried in. He lifted his face up and looked up at Tails, fur everywhere on his head matted and messy from sleeping and eyes still squinted and tired. "The frick is wrong with you?"

"Oh, suck it up, you big baby," Tails spat back. "How late did you even stay up last night?"

"Like, three," Miles groaned, rubbing his eyes as he sat up in his bed. "Sonic called you a couple times, by the way."

"So?" Tails shrugged and started out the door.

"Y'know, you can't just keep ignoring him." Miles lay back down in his bed.

"It worked for two years before," Tails retorted. "Who knows, I might end up setting a new record."

"And, what, I'm supposed to just stay here in this state of limbo for years on end while you and Sonic have your little bitch fight?"

"Well, I don't know what'll happen with you, but we can just cross that bridge when we come to it." Tails turned around in the doorway to regard Miles one last time before leaving. "But for now, you need to get outta bed."

"Oh, right, that's another thing." Tails quickly dove from the doorway to the floor of the hall outside as he dodged a glass that Miles had hurled at his head. "If you _ever_ wake me up before ten again, I'LL FRIGGIN' CUT YOU!" He heard the door slam next to his feet, followed by the sound of Miles crawling back into his bed on the other side.

Tails stood back up and huffed in his irritation. He had half a mind to go back in and show Miles who was boss, but he restrained himself, mostly because he didn't really have a plan about what he would do after he got inside, but he also just wasn't in the mood.

He'd been in a rotten mood for the better part of the last few days because he was basically being stalked. Sonic had been bugging him nonstop since their little meeting about Miles from a few nights before, and Tails was getting fed up with it. He'd been calling, texting, and even coming around in person to talk, and it was beginning to really irritate the fox.

He decided to put the thoughts about Sonic and Miles out of his head for now and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. It made him feel a lot better to step into the shower and let the hot water run through his fur. Showering was like an escape for him. Once he closed the curtain and stepped under the stream of water, everything else disappeared. Sometimes he could stay in for even an hour. Just turn on some music, lie down in the bathtub, and relax, forgetting about everything and everyone outside. Sadly, though, today wasn't a day he could do that. Cassie had messaged him earlier in the morning about a possible job and wanted to meet with him for breakfast, so he couldn't waste his time like he wanted to this morning.

After getting out of the shower and toweling off, Tails headed out to the kitchen to grab a bite of breakfast. He knew he was supposed to get breakfast with Cassie, but he was hungry now, so he decided he could just make it small so he'd have room later. He grabbed a bagel from the fridge and put it in the microwave with a cup of water for some instant coffee. He was just slipping on an old pair of jeans, holding the now-warm bagel in his teeth while he waited for the water to finish heating up, when he heard a knock at his front door. He quickly did up his pants and took the bagel in his hand, ripping a chunk out with his mouth as he did so, and went to the door. Another knock sounded as he put his eye up to the peephole to check who was knocking, and a voice called out from the other side.

"Tails!" It was Sonic. The fox sighed in his annoyance and turned his back on the door, choosing to ignore the hedgehog. He took another bite of his bagel as he walked away from the door, doing his best to stay silent so that Sonic wouldn't know he was actually there. He was about to head back to his bedroom to look for a shirt to wear, but was stopped when another knock came, louder and harsher this time, and another call followed it shortly.

"C'mon, Tails, stop being a child and pretending you're not here. I know for a fact you are, and I'm not leaving until you open up and talk to me!" Tails groaned frustratedly and turned back. He knew Sonic wasn't joking about not leaving, so he figured it would be better to just get it over with. Besides, he needed to meet with Cassie soon, and the front door was the only way out.

_I need to fix that, somehow..._

"What?" Tails asked venomously after he had opened the door.

"We need to talk," Sonic replied firmly.

"Talk about what?" Tails asked, sarcastically feigning interest.

"You know what."

"We've talked about that already, and I've made it clear I have nothing else to say to you on the matter, so give it up."

"Tails, c'mon, stop this, okay? We're gonna have to talk about this sometime, so we might as well do it now and get it all over with. Running away from it isn't going to solve anything anytime soon." Tails sighed and rolled his eyes at the hedgehog.

"Fine, whatever, make it quick, I've got somewhere to be in half an hour." He retreated back inside, leaving the door open for the hedgehog to enter.

"Well, Tails, this isn't gonna be a quick thing, we're gonna need more time." Tails turned back and crossed his arms for the hedgehog, taking an aggressive stance.

"Well, tough. I'm not moving my meeting, so you'll just have to talk fast."

"And what'll you be doing?"

"Oh, I was planning on going to wake up Miles for the day, going to get a shirt on," Tails listed off. "Basically just half-listening because I know that, whatever you say, I'll still just say no to it." Sonic made a frustrated face at him before turning away quickly.

"Y'know what, fine, you win," he said quietly. "Look, I'll just come by some other time, but you had better be ready to talk-"

"Why do you keep trying?" Tails cut him off. An awkward silence descended on the pair as they stared each other down momentarily. Finally, Tails spoke up again. "I mean, seriously, Sonic, what the hell makes you think I'll agree to this? I told you before, nothing you say is gonna make me change my mind about _this_. I'm _never_ just gonna let you induct that little bastard into my family."

"Tails, just listen for a second," Sonic pleaded. "Any other option we take is gonna land you in prison-"

"So let me go to prison! I'll take the sucker with me. I'm fairly certain his sentence will be _a lot_ worse than mine."

"Tails, I'm not just gonna _let_ you go to prison-"

"So, what, this is all about protecting me?" Tails asked, anger rising in his voice. "I don't _need_ your protection anymore, Sonic! I'm a big boy, now. I'm not the little kid that followed you around everywhere! Did you miss that memo, huh-"

"I'm _not_ gonna send you to your death, Tails!" The hedgehog cut Tails off on his rampage, and the fox's anger immediately died down, being taken over by confusion and curiosity, but keeping enough power to retain a slight edge of aggression in his voice.

"What?"

"You heard me, Tails," Sonic answered. "If you go to jail, you'll be killed there for sure."

"You don't know that-"

"Yes, I do. Sally and I checked anywhere we could. There's nowhere safe enough to guarantee you'll survive."

"So, put me in protective custody, or something."

"We're not sure we can, and even if we do, we can't be sure that..." Sonic's voice trailed off as he thought of what to say. "Look, Tails, as the Freedom Fighters, we've put _a lot_ of bad, dangerous people behind bars; people who have a reach in their respective prisons, and even outside them. Even in protective custody, you'd still be too much of a prize to pass up. Guys in jail would want to kill you for revenge, for a bounty even. There are probably guys in there we don't even know who would wanna kill you just on principle." Tails looked down as he thought over what Sonic said.

"Look, believe me, don't believe me, believe what you want, Tails," Sonic continued. "But Sally and I agree that you wouldn't survive whatever sentence you got in prison, and I'm not about to test it out. Now, if you don't agree with it, you at least need to respect it, because there's not much wiggle room here for anything else." Tails was silent as he thought, finally looking up at Sonic and nodding silently.

"Okay, Sonic," he said quietly. "Right, okay, I'll think about it. That okay?" Sonic nodded.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine, Tails." Sonic started for the door. "Alright, then, I should probably be going. Just call if you wanna talk with me, or something. Anytime at all." Tails nodded and waved as he made his leave out the door.

"Okay, Sonic, I'll see ya, then."

"See ya. Have fun at your meeting... Thing..." He waved as he closed the door behind him, leaving Tails alone.

The young fox took another bite out of his bagel as he went back to the kitchen, taking his coffee out of the microwave and taking a sip, cringing at the taste as he did so.

_I hate instant..._

He finished it quickly, needing the boost from the caffeine before he left for breakfast, and headed for his room to pick out a shirt. Then, after he went to Miles room to take on round two of their game of "Wake-Up Call," this time armed with a spatula, a wind-up mouse, and a spray bottle of warm soda water (Don't. Ask.), he started out for his meeting with Cassie, suddenly in a much better mood having smoothed things over somewhat with Sonic.

* * *

><p>Miles groaned loudly as he straightened up to pull up his pants. Tails had agreed to share some of his old jeans and T-shirts with the Moebian, since he only had one set of clothes with him, and they sort of gave him away. They weren't really his style, but the fox knew that he wasn't really in a position to complain about something like that, so he figured he'd just have to roll with this particular punch. He grabbed a black shirt out of the small basket that Tails had given him and slipped it on, adjusting it every which way he could think of to make it feel more comfortable. It wouldn't. It just felt wrong.<p>

"Nice new duds." Miles jumped with a start at the remark, not only because the new voice in the room was unexpected, but also because this particular voice was one he had been conditioned to fear since his childhood.

"Sc- Sc- Scourge!" Miles stammered as he turned to see the green hedgehog standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

"Did ya miss me?" The hedgehog put on a wild, evil grin as he advanced into the room on the frightened fox.

"Wha- What are you doing here?" Miles asked, doing his best to hold his ground as his worst nightmare came face-to-face with him.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Scourge replied maliciously. "I just wanted to swing by and check up on my good, little buddy, Miles. Is that okay?"

"Sure..." Miles wanted nothing more than to yell a flat out "NO!" at the hedgehog, but somehow, in his state of fear, all he could manage to squeak out was forced agreement.

"Good." Scourge turned away and began scanning around the room. "So, word on the street is that you've got yourself set up here with a nice little deal that the Freedom Fighters made with you. That right, Mi'?"

"What?" Miles whispered worriedly. "How'd you know about that? No one's supposed to know about that-!"

"Easy, easy, there, buddy," Scourge cut him off. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell anyone."

"You're not?" Miles asked, a hint of suspicion crawling into his voice. "Why not?"

"Well, how much fun would that be?" the hedgehog asked in reply, turning on the spot to face Miles again. "Then I wouldn't get to see you squirm under the Freedom Fighters' thumb." He started advancing on the anxious fox again. "I wouldn't get to see them bend over backwards to keep you out of jail." He was now directly face-to-face with the fox again, letting a spike-toothed grin split his face as he eyed Miles evilly. "And I wouldn't get to give you my super, special offer of redemption."

"What?" Miles asked confusedly, though still very suspicious.

"You heard me," Scourge replied shortly. "Redemption."

"What kind of redemption?" Scourge smirked smartly and laid his hands on Miles' shoulders, feigning an attempt at putting the fox at ease, which only served to unnerve him more.

"The kind that keeps me from killing you," the hedgehog replied with a tone of voice identical to his demeanor of feigned-comforting. "And the kind that gets you into the good graces of people in high places."

"Oh, like who, your _'evil master'_?" Miles asked skeptically.

"Yes."

"So, why would he want me now?" Miles asked, still skeptical. "I mean, I know he needed me, but I didn't think he wanted anything to do with me except to use like he would Sonic and Tails."

"Well, now he does," Scourge answered promptly as he turned from the fox and began to pace around him, circling like a sadistic predator would its trapped prey.

"Why?" Miles demanded through teeth gritted in frustration.

"Well, it seems that he's _fascinated_ by you now," Scourge answered. "Yeah, I guess that little performance that you and our counterparts put on in the bunker really piqued his interest in you. Now he wants to offer you a chance to come back, this time as a partner instead of a prisoner."

"Partner? You mean, like you?"

"Yep." Scourge leaned in to whisper malevolently in the fox's ear. "And all you have to do is come back and swear your undying loyalty to him."

"What, that's it?" Miles smirked, unimpressed. Scourge lost no time in rounding on him, coming back to stop right in front of the fox and giving him a hard eye, a slight, yet grave frown coming over his expression.

"Don't fail to understand the price that it really is, Miles," Scourge replied harshly. "Ask yourself why I'm here making this offer. I _despise_ you. I see you for the sniveling, little brat that you are and I detest you. So, think about why I'd be here giving you a choice, rather than just coming in, blowing anyone who gets in my way to Hell, and then taking you back by force, or even just killing you, which is what I'd love to do above anything else right now." Miles shrank back slightly as he saw the usual spark of evil in Scourge's eyes begin to grow and burn into a bright, cold fire of pure hatred. However, that fire disappeared from his eyes as soon as it had flared to life, only being replaced by one much smaller, but no less unnerving than before. The hedgehog leaned in again, narrowing the cold eyes and dropping his voice to a low snarl. "Believe me when I say that swearing any kind of oath with someone like this is nothing less than _binding._"

Scourge drew himself back and raised his hand up to his chest, causing Miles to flinch back slightly in fear of a coming strike against his muzzle. He recovered, however, when Scourge merely slipped his hand into one of the front pockets of his jacket and pulled out a small piece of paper, holding it up in front of Miles' face, who took the piece and read from it a phone number.

"You have twelve hours to decide," the hedgehog stated gravely. "After that, all bets are off and you receive the same treatment as the other two." Scourge once again let a small smile form on his face, if only for the second it took to add "And then you become my favorite target."

Next thing Miles knew, a white-gloved fist was rocketed straight into his cheek and he was thrown off his feet from the force of the punch. He let out a yelp as he hit the floor, and held his hand to his throbbing cheek, looking up at the green hedgehog standing over him, a look of superiority etched strongly on his face as he stared down at the downed fox at his feet with disgust.

"That was to remind you who _exactly_ you should fear the most right now," Scourge growled. Then he aimed a swift kick into Miles' stomach, who let out another pained yelp upon the impact. "And that's to remind you of what's to come if you choose wrong."

Miles shakily clamored up onto his knees as the hedgehog turned to make his leave, a sudden flood of rage pouring through him as he watched his worst nightmare's back slowly saunter away while he wallowed on the floor in pain. Suddenly, before he could stop himself, he found himself on his feet, letting out an angry battle cry as he launched himself full force through the air at the hedgehog's back, grabbing on tight and riding the surprised Scourge into the door post of the exit.

Scourge, however, lost no time in reacting, immediately pushing himself away from the wall, grabbing one of Miles' wrists off his shoulder and twisting it hard enough to make him let go, turning to face the fox, and then grabbing him by the torso and launching him back through the air into the bare wall behind him, where Miles bounced off with a rather painful sounding thud and crumpled to the floor, immobilized by the pain he was in and effectively disheartened from any more attempts at violence towards the hedgehog he feared so much.

"Hail to the king, bitch," Scourge whispered acidly as he turned again and exited, leaving Miles in a crumpled heap on the floor in the far corner of the room, smiling evilly even as the pain throbbed through his chest, back, and abdomen.

"Not for long, asshole."

* * *

><p>Tails watched quietly with a smile from his small booth at The King's Diner as Cassie approached from the bar in the middle of the room. She hadn't bothered to take her waitress's apron off, as she was using her break time to meet with him during the diner's weekend breakfast rush. She was wearing another one of her cheap T-shirts, of her usual camo-green color scheme, and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans under the black apron around her waist. She was carrying with her two plates; one with two cups of coffee and the other with a few slices of fresh French toast that Tails assumed was for him.<p>

"Good morning, Miles," she greeted happily as she set the two plates on the table and sat down opposite him, smiling warmly in return to the one she had spotted on his own muzzle.

"Morning," Tails replied quietly, trying to sound as cheery as he could despite the frustrating thoughts about his meeting with Sonic that were nagging at the back of his mind. He took his coffee from the one plate that the vixen had brought with her and took a small sip as he pulled the other plate with the French toast toward himself.

Much _better than my instant..._

After he set the coffee down next to the plate of French toast, he picked up one of the slices and took a small bite out of it. He then extended a hand out to Cassie and directed it to the breakfast, silently offering her a slice. She shook her head slightly.

"No, thanks, I'm not real hungry," she answered with a small smile. "Besides, we need to get down to business. I've only got a few minutes."

"Right," Tails agreed with a nod.

"Okay, then." The vixen cleared her throat and pulled a folder out from one of the pockets in her apron, opening it and setting it out on the table for Tails to see. "Bounty's name is Martin Craig." Tails gave another nod as he finished his first slice of French toast and reached down at the folder to pull a small mugshot of the culprit out and study it for himself. "He's been in and out of jail for various crimes of petty theft, and even an extortion, and now he's on trial for armed robbery."

"Mmhmm." The fox nodded again, still examining the photo absentmindedly. It showed a tall, large man who looked like he was in his thirties. He had a shaved head and a cold, angry expression on his face. He looked like he could tear someone's head off with his bare hands, and Tails wouldn't have put it past him to try.

Tails, however, wasn't seeing any of those qualities or details that the photo displayed. He wasn't even thinking of the photo's subject, instead letting his uneasy mind busy itself by imagining himself in that picture, taking that mugshot, wearing an orange jumpsuit, being locked up in jail. Could Sonic be right? Would he really be in mortal danger behind those bars? Part of him liked to think that he would be able to blend in, just be any other prisoner that no one would recognize. He'd been away from the Freedom Fighters so long that he'd stopped thinking that people would still associate him with them.

_Fat chance..._

Still, though, another part of him knew it to be fact that in an environment like a prison, he'd be recognized and targeted almost immediately. He couldn't help but imagine what Sonic had told him that morning was true; that he wouldn't even be able to survive one day, and even if he did, if he was able to survive, by some miracle, through whatever sentence he would get, he knew he wouldn't emerge from the experience unharmed. He was certain that any extended amount of time he'd spend in a prison would be an experience comparable to Hell itself. He'd surely be targeted, rejected, singled out, ridiculed, and abused in _every_ sense of the word. Not only, though, would he be subjected to tortures and abuse nearly unimaginable, but the worst part of it was that he would be completely alone. He wouldn't have any friends in prison. No allies, no one to look to for help, no one to rely on. It would just be him. Alone. In a world where everybody hated him for everything he was and stood for.

The very thought of it made Tails' stomach tie itself in knots. He couldn't help but think, though, that there had to be a way out of it. There had to be something he could do to clean everything up. Put Miles in jail, stay out himself, and somehow get a spot on the team for Scourge's manhunt. There had to be a way he could get out of making Miles his new _brother._ There had to be a way to make everything right again. There was always a way... Wasn't there...?

"MILES!" Tails looked up from the picture as his train of thought was derailed by Cassie's shout for his attention.

"Huh? What?"

"Are you even listening?" Cassie asked in her frustration. Tails quickly put the picture back in the file and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Um... Yeah, I was just-"

"Miles!"

"Sorry!" Tails pleaded, putting his head in his hands as he regathered his thoughts. He looked up at her, leaning over the table on his elbows, clasping his hands on his head around his ears. "I'm sorry, Cassie, I'm just..." He paused a moment to think of what to say. "I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"Well, what's up?" Cassie asked pointedly.

"Sonic came over this morning."

"Did you talk to him this time?" Tails gave a silent nod, to which Cassie let out a relieved sigh. "Finally! I was getting ready to smack you." Tails responded with a confused look, which went unnoticed by the vixen as she continued. "So, what did you guys talk about?"

"Well, what do you think?" Tails retorted dryly.

"No, I mean, what was discussed, exactly? What did you guys _say?_"

"Sonic told me that this whole Miles business has been to keep me out of jail." Cassie nodded for him to continue. "Because he thinks that in jail, I would probably be killed."

"Oh." Cassie sat up in her seat and gave him a thoughtful look.

"Yeah, and I can't help but think he's right."

"Well, he probably is," Cassie replied. "I mean, I never really thought about it like that, but yeah, there's a chance you wouldn't survive prison. You're an ex-Freedom Fighter, you're somewhat famous for it, and you have strong ties to almost every major player in the Kingdom's war on crime. People in prison would _not_ like you."

"Yeah, but now I can't figure out what to do!" Tails explained frustratedly. "I mean, I guess I know now that prison isn't an option, but at the same time, I _really_ don't want to let Sonic just give Miles a free pass, especially to live _here,_ as my _brother!_"

"Well, that sucks," Cassie answered shortly. "Look, Miles, I told you before, you're going to have to do some unpleasant stuff to make all this right again. You're little anti-twin is just the unpleasantness I was talking about." Tails nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I guess," he groaned. He tore off a half of another slice of French toast and leaned his head to one side in his hand. "Oh, what have I gotten all of us into?"

"Oh, c'mon, it's not that bad," Cassie told him reassuringly. "I trust that the security Sonic and Sally will have him under will be sufficient enough to keep him from doing anything dangerous, and who knows? We might even be able to change him over time."

"You're such an optimist sometimes," Tails chuckled, letting a small smile split his face.

"Well, hey, you're my friend, and I care about you." Cassie returned the smile. "I would much rather have an evil genius in handcuffs roaming the free streets than have you in prison in danger of being tortured and killed." Tails' smile grew slightly, and he took another bite of the French toast.

"Thanks," he said quietly as he sat up. He grabbed the folder that Cassie had laid out and pulled it towards him. "Okay, so, about this bail jumper?" Cassie's smile changed to one of excitement as she began to direct Tails' attention to certain areas of the folder.

"Alright, so, like I said, his name's Martin Craig, and-"

_RIIIIIINNGG!_

The vixen's face fell into an expression of annoyance, which Tails returned with an awkward smile as he slowly pulled out his cell phone to see who was calling.

"Oh, um, one minute, Cass. It's Sonic. I gotta take it." Cassie let out an annoyed sigh as he answered the phone and put it to his ear. "Hello?" Cassie could barely hear Sonic's voice chattering into the fox's ear from across the table. She thought he sounded upset. "Wait, he _what?_" Tails almost stood up in his seat, and his outburst had been loud enough to attract the surprised attention of several of the people sitting at tables near them.

He slowly sat back down in his seat as he continued to listen to Sonic over the phone, nodding slightly every few seconds, or giving an anxious "Yeah." as a response. Finally, he hung up, and Cassie didn't even have a chance to ask what was wrong before he stood up from the table to leave.

"Miles broke his tracker-bracelet," he said quickly. "I'm sorry, I gotta go. Sonic's chasing him down right now, and I have to stop back at my apartment to pick up some stuff so I can meet up with Sonic and bring the bastard back." Cassie rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh.

"Alright," she said quietly, taking the folder on the table and closing it. "I'll just give it to someone else."

"I'm _really_ sorry, Cass, but watching Miles is my priority right now," Tails explained.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I get it," Cassie replied as she stood up. "Don't worry, it's fine." She gave him a small smile, which he returned gratefully.

"How much do I owe you for the French toast?" Cassie thought for a moment before answering.

"It's on the house this time," she answered promptly. "Now, go. You don't need that evil twin of yours running off." Tails' smile widened as he nodded to her and turned to leave.

"Alright, I'll see ya later, Cassie!" he threw over his shoulder as he made his way to the door.

"Bye, Miles," Cassie said quietly to herself as she watched him disappear out the door, and then he was gone.

* * *

><p>"Alright, I'm just walking in the door, right now, Sonic," Tails told the hedgehog over the phone he had to his ear as he closed the door to his apartment behind him. "I'm gonna quickly grab the bracelet and a few other things and I'll meet you in a while. Just keep your phone's GPS on."<p>

"Alright," Sonic replied through the speaker in the fox's ear. "I'm gonna start chasing Miles right now. According to the tracker-dust that the bracelet released when he broke it, he's somewhere up in the mountains outside the city, and he's going _fast_."

"Wow, that's saying something, coming from you," Tails remarked as he headed into Miles' bedroom, immediately spotting the discarded tracker-bracelet on the floor next to the bed. He picked it up and studied it for a moment before pocketing it and leaving, heading for his own room now.

"It really is," Sonic said gravely. "It might actually be a challenge catching him, now."

"Well, start out now, like you said, and I'll meet you up in the mountains." Tails stuck the phone between his shoulder and his head to hold it so that he could open up the use of both his hands. "I'm almost done here; I'll only be a few minutes behind you." He opened up the top drawer of his dresser and looked around in the assorted mess of T-shirts, underwear, and socks, finding what he was looking for at the bottom under the piles: his emergency pistol, loaded with real, lethal ammo that he hid to use should he be the victim of some kind of home invasion. He figured he could make an exception for the situation at hand. All he needed was to get alone with Miles, and let him make the first move. After that, any defense he should deem necessary to take, such as shooting the bastard, would be completely justifiable, and then suddenly all the problems that were currently plaguing his mind were _magically gone!_

"Alright, just hurry up!" Sonic said impatiently as Tails took the magazine out of the pistol to make sure it was loaded.

"On it!" he replied as he slipped the mag back in and cocked the pistol. "On my way out the door right now."

"Good. I'll see ya in a few." Tails heard the line go dead in his ear as he took the phone from its crook in his shoulder. He pocketed the phone, and quickly did the same with the pistol, tucking it where he always kept it in the back of his pants waist as he exited the room and headed back to the front door. He would have walked right out without a second thought, except his attention was caught by a pained groan echoing from the kitchen, followed by the sound of the freezer closing. He drew his gun and held it up at the ready, preparing himself to get the drop on whoever was sneaking around inside his house. Why did this seem to be happening more often now that Miles was living under his roof?

"Hands up!" Tails shouted as he came around the corner into the kitchen, leading with his gun. He was surprised, though, when he met the sight of none other than Miles slumped back in one of the chairs by the kitchen table, holding a bag of ice in the middle of his abdomen.

"Whoa! Wait!" Miles quickly jumped out of his seat and put his hands up, still holding the bag of ice.

"What the...?" Tails lowered his weapon, confused. "Miles!"

"What?" the Moebian demanded as he sat back down, replacing the bag of ice on his chest with a wince and a sharp breath. "Don't get all mad at me! _You're_ the one who just stormed in here with a gun!"

"What are you doing here?" Tails asked quickly as he put his gun back into the waist of his pants.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Miles retorted sarcastically. "I got the crap beat outta me! I'm licking my wounds, here!"

"What happened?" Miles looked up at him with a scowl.

"Scourge was here," he murmured acidly.

"What?" Tails gave him an alarmed look.

"Yeah, he was here," Miles repeated, leaning his head back over the back of the chair. "Came to pay me a visit."

"Why?" Tails asked as he took a seat at the table.

"To terrorize me," Miles answered shortly. "Threaten me. Make me an offer to turn on you."

"What?"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna take it. What I want more than anything is that bastard dead, I'm not gonna just turn around and work for him." Tails sighed.

"Okay, so, was he the one who broke your bracelet, then?" Miles shook his head, which was still leaned back over the chair.

"No, I did. He was about to leave, so I tried tackling him, and I broke the bracelet to spray the tracker dust and get it all over him." A look of realization came over Tails' face.

"So, Sonic's not chasing you right now, he's chasing Scourge," he said quietly. "Hang on, I gotta call him real quick." He quickly pulled his phone out and pressed redial, putting the phone to his ear and waiting for an answer.

"Hello?" Sonic's voice was barely audible over the noise of the wind in the background. He was probably running.

"Sonic! There's something you should-"

"Tails, you're gonna have to speak up! I can't hear a word you're saying!" The fox sighed quietly.

"Sonic!" he practically shouted into the phone. "You should know that you're not chasing Miles, you're chasing Scourge!" Immediately, the sound of the wind in the background silenced and Sonic's slightly-out-of-breath voice came through the speaker in Tails' ear as clear as ever.

"Wait, say what?" he responded, sounding confused.

"Yeah, Miles is right here with me," Tails explained. "Scourge is the one carrying the tracker dust."

"Why is Scourge carrying the dust, though?" Sonic asked.

"I guess he came here to knock Miles around, or something, and Miles broke the bracelet to spray the dust on him."

"So _he_ told you, right?" Sonic asked suspiciously.

"Hey, look, I don't know what actually happened, but as it stands, the facts are that Miles is right here, and you're chasing Scourge right now."

"Well, that would account for the speed..." the hedgehog murmured thoughtfully."How do we know this isn't some sort of trap they set for us?"

"Well, you'll just have to be careful, then." Tails shrugged, even though he knew Sonic couldn't see him.

"I guess," he groaned in reply. "Okay, I'm gonna call this in to Sal and tell her to get everything ready to mobilize for when I pin down the green-quilled bastard. Meanwhile, you keep your twin grounded at your place."

"And then you'll call us when it's time to go in, right?" Tails asked hopefully, a mood that was slightly dampened when a moment of uncertain silence followed before Sonic's less-than-sure reply came.

"Uh... Yeah..." he answered quietly. "Look, I'll try and do what I can, but I'm not promising anything right now, 'kay? Just stay there and keep an eye on Miles."

"Oh, Sonic, c'mon-!" The fox was cut off by the sound of the line disconnecting in his ear. "Damn." He tossed the phone onto the table, in a bitter mood now.

"Lemme guess," Miles piped up in a pained groan. "We have to wait here while they take care of business?" Tails' bitter scowl slid over to the Moebian across the table, who was still leaned back in his chair with his ice pack.

"Something like that," he growled.

"Well, I'm not complaining," Miles replied calmly. "I'm not up to going toe-to-toe with that psycho right now anyway." Tails groaned and laid his head down on the table in front of him as an awkward silence descended on the two fox-twins. Finally, he picked his phone up again and pulled up Sonic's phone's tracking data. He figured he'd just have to watch and wait, following Sonic's moves until the right moment to call in and ask how he could help.

"I'm gonna go lie down on the couch," Miles half-sighed, getting up from his seat and shuffling slowly into the living room, plopping his ice pack into the sink as he passed it. Tails followed after him a moment later and found him where he said he'd be. Deciding he had the right idea, Tails found himself a spot in the middle of the floor to lie himself down on and situated himself there. He would have chosen the recliner next to the couch over the floor, but he didn't want to get too comfortable, in the case that he would need to leave at a moment's notice to go help Sonic, however long it would take that moment to call...

The next hour passed by in silence. Tails, in his anxious, waiting mood, between random checks on Sonic's GPS, was now cleaning his gun to pass the time. For the third time. Miles, though, hadn't moved from his spot on the couch. Tails was beginning to think he had fallen asleep. However, he was soon corrected very suddenly when the Moebian decided to break the silence.

"Y'know, waiting and looking at the screen over and over, like you are, isn't going to _magically_ make them call you in." Tails shot an irritated look up at his evil twin.

"I'm not waiting for them to call me in, I'm waiting to call them myself!" he spat acidly.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Miles shot back. "Just call them and get it over with! He said no an hour ago, he's gonna say no now, and he will still say no another hour from now."

"Not if I call them at the right time."

"The right time? There is no right time! Honestly, I don't even know why you're bothering calling at all! That just shows how spineless you are compared to me" Miles stood up from the couch and stood himself right over Tails, looking down on him with an air supposed superiority. "If I were you, I wouldn't be waiting here to call and _ask_ to join the hunt for my enemies. Hell, I wouldn't even _have_ enemies. They'd all be dead already!" Tails bolted up and met Miles' eye with an angry glare.

"Oh, yeah? Then what do you call Scourge?"

"The last thing on my to-do list," Miles answered smartly. "In case you haven't been informed, I'm already on my final approach to eliminate him from my life, with a little help from your friends, of course."

"So, what would you have me do, then? Find Sonic and Scourge and just _join_ myself into the fight?"

"_Yes!_" Miles shouted pleadingly. "That's exactly what you should be doing right now!"

"Well-!"

"What, are you afraid of? Sonic? What's he gonna do to you? It's not like he can send you away, he can't force you to leave."

"Yeah, well-!"

"C'mon, what are you? You gonna be Sonic's bitch forever? I thought you broke up with that self-righteous pincushion years ago!"

"AUUGHH!" Tails didn't even know he had reacted. One minute, he was trying to get a word in edgewise, though he couldn't think of anything to say, and the next he was hunched over a downed Miles who was holding his head right next to his ear. He looked down at the gun in his hand and saw a small speck of blood on the silver slide.

"Goddammit!" Miles shouted through gritted teeth. "Okay, well, at least you've proved to me that you have _something_ dangling between those legs of yours." He sat up and looked up at Tails with a manic grin. "Now prove to me that I'm wrong about your taking orders from Sonic!"

Tails' mind was reeling with the rage Miles was succeeding at stirring up in him. He felt like doing more than just braining the Moebian with his pistol; he felt like beating the fox down until he couldn't recognize him anymore. However, the worst part of it all was that what he was saying made some sort of sense. As Miles was goading him on, all Tails could think was "Why not?" Why not just find Sonic? Why not go assert himself into the fight? Why not make himself his own side in the war? Miles was right, there wasn't much Sonic could do to stop him. Still, that didn't make him any happier about what Miles was saying. He aimed a swift kick into Miles' stomach, hoping to maybe hit the spot Scourge had been hitting earlier, then started toward the door into the kitchen.

"I don't need to prove anything to you," he growled as he left. Miles quickly picked himself up and followed.

"So, then what are you gonna do?"

"Well, if you want so badly for me to go and push myself into the fight, then fine, let's go." He grabbed Miles by the shoulder as the fox caught up with him. "But you're coming with me, buddy."

"Sweet, let's go," Miles retorted dryly as Tails shoved him out the door.

* * *

><p>Sonic walked quietly through the grass of the Green Hill Zone, surveying the blank, green, windswept landscape on the horizon. As he scanned, the calm, green serenity was suddenly broken by the scene in front of him, where a number of Kingdom-branded vehicles that included a good-sized chopper were positioned in front of a small cave at the foot of the tall hill the hedgehog stood on, forming a makeshift command post for the Freedom Fighters.<p>

Sally had brought the vehicles in and set up the command post after Sonic had called her in, telling her that he had managed to trap Scourge in the cave during their little chase through the mountains that ended there in the Green Hill. Sally had told Sonic to stay put and make sure that Scourge stayed in the cave, and she told him that he wasn't to go in and take on the Moebian on his own.

The hedgehog snorted slightly as he thought about it. He remembered there had been a time when he would have taken those orders and tossed them over his shoulder as he crossed the field of the cave. He would have charged right in to take Scourge on, Tails following right at his shoulder... Tails... The hedgehog looked down at the ground as the thought of fighting with Tails at his side came to mind. Sadly, that had been a long time ago. A very long time ago...

Sonic bolted, bursting into a run that was barely visible to the naked eye, leaving his thoughts and feelings about Tails and his nostalgia behind him. He stopped when he arrived at the command post at the foot of the hill, slowing to a walk as he entered his team's boundaries. Sally was there, waiting to meet him, a serious look on her face; the look she always wore on the battlefield.

"Got an update for me, Sal?" Sonic asked promptly as he stopped next to her.

"Antoine and Bunnie are getting suited up right now," she replied. "Rotor's with Nicole, helping her build a cage that can hold Scourge, in a stasis, if possible. We should be ready to go in about ten minutes. You ready?" Sonic gave her a stern look that was soon replaced with a small, cocky smile.

"Been ready since I called you in." He gave her a thumbs-up and widened his smile. She reached over to him and pecked him on the cheek affectionately.

"Well, thanks for waiting for us, Sonic," she said. She looked around to spy on the cave they were watching over, and Sonic followed her. "You seen or heard anything that we should be alarmed about?" Sonic shook his head slightly.

"Nope." He looked back at Sally. "You?" She met his gaze again.

"No." They were silent for a moment before she continued. "Well, then we shouldn't have anything to worry about. I'll go get suited up and I'll come and get you when we're all ready." Sonic nodded in reply and she disappeared behind one of the trucks she had called in.

After she was gone, he turned to look at the cave again, studying the dark shadow that obscured the inside from an outside view. Scourge was somewhere in there, and he hadn't made any move to come out in over a half-hour. This both worried and intrigued Sonic. On one hand, he couldn't help but think what on Mobius Scourge could be planning in there. Sonic was almost sure now that getting pinned down in the cave was a part of some kind of plan the hedgehog had for the Freedom Fighters. Otherwise, he would have made _at least_ one attempt to get out by now. However, on the other, Sonic couldn't help but think: _What on Mobius_ could _Scourge be planning in there!_ It was just a cave! A tiny, little, random cave that Sonic had chased him into by chance... _Right...?_

"Well, I guess my invitation to the party got lost in the mail, huh?" Sonic bolted around in response to the snarky comment he'd heard from behind him, finding _exactly_ what he feared he'd find. Tails.

"Tails?" Sonic marched right up to the fox as he landed on the grass, no one other than Miles landing next to him. "What the hell?"

"_'I'll try and do what I can, but I'm not promising anything, 'kay?_" Tails mimicked to Sonic sarcastically. "Yeah, you're trying, alright."

"Hey, I told you to stay at home with him," Sonic scolded.

"I bet you didn't even _ask_ Sally if I could come in," Tails continued, ignoring Sonic's anger.

"That's not the point, here, Tails," Sonic argued, enraged now. "_He_ shouldn't be here!" He pointed to Miles.

"So you admit it!" Tails shouted accusingly.

"TAILS!"

"Look, Sonic, I'm tired of you treating me like a civilian like this!" Tails ranted. "I may have quit the team two years ago, but that doesn't mean I'm not fight-worthy. In fact, I may be more so than you are! I've been bounty hunting since I quit, but what have the Freedom Fighters been doing since then, huh?"

"That's just it, Tails, you _quit the team!_" Sonic countered. "You're not one of us anymore, you're not a part of the team anymore, and you're not allowed to be here! So stop trying to butt in to our business and just sit the bench while I work to clean up the mess you made playing hero and keep you from going to prison!"

"Oh, so that's it, huh!"

Miles groaned and quietly face palmed himself as he watched the two go at it. For a moment, he felt like kicking one in the stomach and punching the other in the face to shut them both up, but his interest in inflicting violence was redirected for a moment as he chanced a look up from his palm and happened to see something he hated more than the two Mobians in front of him: Scourge.

The green hedgehog was currently looking him directly in the eye, a dark scowl on his face that conveyed so much hatred for the three he was surveying that the amount it contained was ineffable. It was all Miles could do to match it. Then the hedgehog's contemptuous stare turned into one of smug triumph as a spike-toothed grin split his face and he quickly retreated back into the cave. Miles quickly turned back to Sonic and Tails, who were still shouting at each other.

"Tails! Scourge is in the cave over there!" Tails stopped shouting at Sonic for a moment to follow where Miles' finger was pointing. "C'mon, let's go get him! He's cornered and he's alone!"

"You! Shut up!" Sonic interjected furiously, but Tails had already started to walk away, soon breaking into a run directly at the cave which Miles followed after quickly. "Wait! TAILS!" The enraged hedgehog quickly dashed after the two foxes and all three disappeared into the cave's entrance. Then, there was a loud, thundering CLAP that resounded from inside the cave, followed by a bright flash that illuminated the entire command post outside before the Green Hill Zone's trademark silence fell once again on the area.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, yeah, there it is. How'd ya like it? Anyway, stuff as usual, review, favorite, review, alert, tell friends, review, and, y'know, REVIEW! Okay, so, I know I'm back and all, but I'm afraid my attention is still a bit split between this and other writing stuff, so I have NO idea when the next chapter will be out, so just bear with me on that. So, yeah, 'til next time, Stonefaced out!<strong>


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